In the bunker of the infantry company no. 9 at ul. Pełczyńska and at the adjacent firing ground, the Social Mobile Military Centre is being created. It will be a place for presentation of historic military equipment: cannons, combat vehicles, rifles etc.
The host of the bunker is JEDYNKA – Foundation of Social and Cultural Initiatives. They have ideas, enthusiasts and historic equipment, but the only thing that they lack is money.
The museum will be the centre of activity of historical reconstruction groups – there are around 20 of them in Wroclaw and neighbouring areas. The aim of the museum will be to present historic military equipment: cannons, combat vehicles, rifles. “But it will be different from other museums, where exhibits are separated from visitors and cannot be touched. In our museum, you can hold everything in your hands, go into vehicles, put on a uniform, hold a gun in your hand, look at combat manoeuvres, or listen to stories of enthusiasts of military topics,” tells Marek Łaciak, President of JEDYNKA – Foundation of Social and Cultural Initiatives.
Shooting at the firing ground
The organisers want to offer exhibition rooms, a cinema room, a souvenir shop, catering facilities, and small barracks where it will be possible to put on a military uniform and take a photograph of yourself. There will also be an occasion to eat military pea soup served on a tin plate from the authentic field kitchen.
The Mobile Museum of Military Items presented its offer during this year’s Night of Museums in Wroclaw. Three rooms in the middle of the bunker became available to visitors, containing equipment and guns from the collections of the “Twierdza Wroclaw” (Wroclaw Fortress) Association and items found in the bunker area during cleaning works.
Available on call
“There were so many people willing to visit the bunker that they had to wait in a long queue. Altogether, we were visited by 2.5 thousand persons,” recollects Marek Łaciak, adding that the success during the Night of Museums resulted in further proposals. A special exhibition will be prepared for European Heritage Days in September (13th-14th and 20th-21st of September).
If you wish to enter the bunker, you only need to notify your visit in advance by phone tel. 71 718 90 25 (groups of at least 10 persons are welcome) and pay a symbolic fee.
Looking for money
As Marek Łaciak says, the problem lies in costs of repair works: „We have submitted twelve applications for financial aid and now we are waiting for a reply. The things that we prepared for the Night of Museums were financed by us. Originators of the museum submitted an application for funding of works in this year’s edition of the Civil Budget. The project has already been favourably verified. A vote in September will decide whether the application will be fulfilled.
At the end of the 19th century, over 60 military structures, such as forts, bunkers etc., were built around Wroclaw. One of them is the Infantry Font located at ul. Pełczyńska in Osobowice near the city centre ring-road, the A8 Motorway and the Wroclaw – Oborniki Śląskie route.
jr
