In 1965, 6 May fell on a Thursday. On that day, punctually at 1 pm., the first visitors crossed the threshold of the newly established Museum of Architecture and Reconstruction.

The exhibition, organised in cooperation with the Provincial Conservator of Monuments to mark the twentieth anniversary of the return of Wrocław to the motherland / open in the museum’s exhibition halls at 5 Bernardyńska Street from May to September 1965 / includes sections on the destruction of monuments and the achievements of conservators… - reads the text of the invitation to the first exhibition in the history of the institution. The commissioner of the exhibition, entitled ‘Protection of Lower Silesian Monuments 1945-1965’, was Professor Olgierd Czerner, the initiator of the museum and its first director.

Neither the subject nor the timing of the exhibition was accidental. Twenty years earlier - to the minute - one chapter in the city’s history had ended and a new one had begun. We celebrated a new beginning with the opening of a cultural institution whose mission was primarily to preserve the surviving remnants of architectural details from buildings that had been ruined during the war. The most valuable of these were permanently added to the museum’s collection, becoming the nucleus of other collections that have grown over the years.

Over time, the aims of the institution changed, and material objects - such as fragments of destroyed buildings, examples of architectural craftsmanship, engravings and works of contemporary art - gave way to the evidence of creative creation that remained on paper: designs, sketches, hand-drawings and mock-ups of future buildings. More and more space on the magazine shelves was devoted to the documentation of the design process - notes, notes, theoretical texts. Evidence of successive new beginnings.

On 6 May 2025, at 1 pm., the 60th birthday of the Museum of Architecture in Wrocław - to this day the only museum with this profile in Poland - began. The anniversary year is - in addition to a number of occasional events - also a prelude to the changes that await the institution in the near future. Ahead of us lies the redevelopment of the existing premises, work on the shape of the new part of the complex, and the redesign of the cultural and educational offer in terms of accessibility and public involvement.

Spend the next 12 months with us and we promise you won’t be bored! There are lots of anniversary events on the agenda - exhibitions, meetings, a new educational programme, and finally…. a new book!

MA 60th anniversary - schedule of events:

• Museum Night - live screen printing, together with Parcownia Witryna we are printing T-shirts and bags with the anniversary theme for you,
• 22.05, 17.00 - It started in MA - a lecture about the beginnings of the Museum of Architecture and Reconstruction, hosted by Michał Chadera,
• 28.06, 18.00 - opening of the exhibition ‘Laboratory of Architecture’,
• July-August - Architecture of change / Changes in architecture: architectural walks around Wrocław
• 1.09, at 5 pm. - Back to School – Academy of Architecture - inauguration of a new MA educational programme for adults
• September-October - Architecture of change/changes in architecture: architectural walks around Wrocław
• 23.10, at 6 pm. - opening of a monographic exhibition by Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska,
• 7.11, at 5 pm. - lecture on Prof. Olgierd Czernera, hosted by Michał Chadera

See you at #MA!