About us

This branch of the Museum was established in 1985 with a seat in Nowy Tomyśl - a region known for its long tradition of wicker and hop growing. Research and collectioner’s interests of the Museum concern the history of basketry in Poland and in the world, wicker growing, directions of its utilization, technique of wickerwork production, furniture and other usable ready-made and artistic wicker objects.

From the very beginning the collections of this Museum were dealt with two separate subjects - basketry and hop-growing - and as a whole they are devided into four sections: ethnography, technique, nature and art.

Among ethnographic exhibits the largest collection is devoted to plaiting referred to one of the oldest fields of rural handicraft. Raw material for it were wicker, pine roots, straw and maple phloem. The oldest objects in these collections can be dated from the end of the 19th century. These are chiefly baskets, containers, reserve vessels. Attention is drawn by objects made from woven pine roots, such as plates, trays, jugs and flower pots. The core of ethnographic collections, however, are plaiting objects from the vicinities of Nowy Tomyśl and Rudnik on the San river. They illustrate former and present developmental forms of model-making from these regions.

The collection of artistic exhibits includes studio forms created during all-Poland wickerwork exhibitions in the open air. They show the output of artists working with thin wicker branches. This exhibit includes works by Jedrzej Stępak, Marian Iwanowicz, Bogna Lisowska, Barbara Grobelna-Radziejowska.

Technical exhibits cover tools and equipment connected with wicker and hop-growing and with processing of this raw material. There is also a work shop of a basket-maker with basic tools used in wickerwork.

Natural hop exhibits and prepared specimens of animals, skins and horns should be also mentioned here. Much attention was devoted to salicarium consisting of 53 plots representing Polish and 12 European willow varieties. There is also a wicker minipark here (with 20 willow varieties in the form of trees and bushes).

In 2006 Society of Polish Wickers in Nowy Tomysl donated to Museum so called „olęderska” barn. Now it houses exhibition about planting wicker and part of wickerwork, that were created during open air workshops for wickers and artists.

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