Ladies and gentlemen!
We are taking pleasure in inviting you to visit the exhibitions organized by the museum of the Society of Friends of the Boyen Stronghold. As Boyen Stronghold is a fortification, so the exhibitions have broader thematic scope. We are anxious to show our tourists not only the history of Gizycko fortification, but also some fragments of the town's history, as well as the history of the whole region. We start our visiting from the hall, the exhibition of which is devoted to the history of Boyen Stronghold. Here one can see a model of Boyen Stronghold designed by Miroslaw Molesta. The pictures on the walls present soldiers life in the Stonghold during World War I, as well as the representatives of Prussian commanding staff and the emperor Wilheml I. In the glass-cases you can see some objects and fragmnets of armament from the World War 11
The title of the second exhibition is "The Prussians", The oldest history of the Great Masurian Lake Land is on display in this hall. In the glass-cases you can see the reconstructions of ash-pots of Prussian burialss, a hand mill and some objects of everyday usage from the XIV century, which come from the neighbouring Pozezdrze and Wegorzewo towns. The photographic exhibition displays the remains of Prussian settlement. This is the only visiable trace of the Prussians, the first inhabitants of this land. The next exhibition is entitled "Gizycko". It presents exhibits, which show the history of Gizycko, although you can find the information about the town in the other halls too. In the central part of the hall there is more than a 100 years old piano, which was presented to the Society of Friends of the Boyen Stronghold by the the parish-priest of the Protestant Church -Janusz Jagucki and his wife Danuta. At present Jagucki is the archbishop of the Protestant Church in Poland. The model of the drawbridge over the Luczanski Channel, which is an interesting construction from the second half of the 19th century - is also noteworthy. The pictures on the walls reflect the changes which had happened over the last 50 years in the area. In the niche on the left there is the reconstruction of town's plan from 1612, when Gizycko was granted town's status.
The exhibition under the title "The devastations in Masurian Region" is dedicated to the military actions during the World War I. It consist of two parts: the paintings in water-colours from 1914, and the copies of postcards which were made in order of Prussian commanding staff to show people of other regions of Germany how unlucky were the inhabitants of East Prussia. There are also some supplemental elements of fortress protection such as: fragments of fortress lattice with help of which the Stronghold was fenced in, as well as the window lattice, and the reconstruction of the steel plates (75kg each), which were used for protecting the windows of basement. "Fortifications" is a photographic exhibition devoted to the fortifications from World War II in Masurian Region. You can see different kinds of shelters and bunkers on the pictures. There is also a wonderful map, on which all the lines of fortifications on the territory of present Poland are shown.
"Mazury" is an exhibition which illustrates different elements of the Masurian Region history and the history of Gizycko. Next to the enter there is a collection of maps of miazurian Region ranging from the oldest maps to the most modern. On your left there is an exhibition of postcards from Gizycko. The buildings shown on those pictures are no more in existance. They were destroyed during the occupation of our town by the Soviet Army in 1945. Only on those postcards you can see all the charm of our town more than 50 years ago.
We hope that our exhibitions arouse you interest in our town and awaken the intention to visit it in the future.
Thank you and see Gizycko again!