The Karkonosze Museum in Jelenia Góra – the biggest regional museum in Lower Silesia, with over 100 years of history – includes the headquarters in Jelenia Góra and a fully functional glassworks (Glass Laboratory), plus three smaller branches: Karl and Gerhart Hauptmann House in Szklarska Poręba,  the Bolków Castle and Historical and Military Museum in Jelenia Góra. 

The headquarters at 28 Matejki st. houses over 60,000 museum artefacts related to the history of Jelenia Góra and the region. The largest collection of artistic glass in Poland deserves special attention, including the section of Silesian glass, particularly valued in Europe. The glassworks operating at the museum – “Glass Laboratory” – complements the museum’s offer regarding the local glassmaking heritage through demonstrations of glass melting and moulding, workshops and other educational formats.

The historical exhibition includes the most ancient past of the region, seen through the archaeological findings. Then, the presentation goes on to describe the city’s heyday (17th–18th centuries). At that time, Jelenia Góra had the exclusive right to trade in thin, linen cloth – veils – which led to the robust prosperity of the local merchant class and enabled the reconstruction of the city destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). 

Another important feature is the interior arranged as an 18th-century bourgeois tenement house, modelled on the apartment of Daniel Buchs – a merchant from Jelenia Góra. Visitors can also see memorabilia of 18th-century sacral art: a unique wooden model of the protestant Church of Grace from 1709 and sculptures linked to Thomas Weissfeld’s workshop. Finally, the visitors are shown the development of Jelenia Góra from the mid-19th century to the most modern times.

A lot of attention has been paid to the ancient and contemporary folk culture, which we can get acquainted with by visiting a country cottage built in 1914, equipped with a variety of common-use objects and paintings on glass. Particularly noteworthy is the wooden furniture dating back to 18th century. It is decorated in. A manner typical of the Karkonosze region: with polychrome architectural and landscape motifs, and a veneer-like painted ornaments.

Among the many different craft objects, the glass products deserve special attention. They are typical of the Karkonosze Mountains and are shown at the permanent exhibition of artistic glass. The Walloons who came to this area discovered deposits of quartz sand used for melting glass and established the first glassworks. The Karkonosze Museum in Jelenia Góra has a collection of glassware with about 9.5 thousand exhibits. The exhibition traces the history and development of the glass craft in Silesia and Europe in chronological order. Starting with objects from the Baroque era, through historical styles, Biedermeier, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, to a modern glass gallery. The exhibition is complemented by a range of multimedia presentations showing, among others, details of the glass production process.