Between Museum Theory and Practice: Museological Education Illustrated by the Ethnology Curriculum at the Jagiellonian University

Abstract

Curricular training in museology at Jagiellonian University has a tradition spanning over 60 years. It was initiated by Mieczysław Gładysz, who, upon assuming the Chair of Slavic Ethnography at Jagiellonian University in 1960, developed a museum education module for the students of the department he headed. He entrusted the implementation of the course to Dr Jan Bujak. The curriculum created by Gładysz and refined by Bujak encompassed a broad spectrum of issues and subjects, offering a comprehensive and multifaceted approach to museum theory and practice. After J. Bujak’s death in 1991, museology was completely removed from the curriculum of ethnological studies. It returned to university education in 2000 with the employment of Jan Święch at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Jagiellonian University. He was tasked with reactivating the Postgraduate Museological Studies Programme, as well as full-time classes. Currently, Jagiellonian University offers three museology courses as part of its ethnology studies: Museology in Contemporary Culture; Between Museum Theory and Practice; and Exhibition Design.