The Shared Storage Facility in Poland: A Pilot Project of the National Institute for Museums and Public Collections (NIMOZ)

Abstract

The safe storage of collections for future generations is the most important statutory activity of every museum worldwide. Although this objective is a long-held one, statistics show that, regrettably, a historical and global problem still exists in this field, including for Polish museums. Fortunately, positive changes have been implemented since the end of the 20th century, resulting not only in new infrastructure projects, but also in new approaches to the longstanding problem. Contemporary museum storage facilities are perceived not only as restricted museum spaces, but also, and primarily, as a combination of places, people and processes. Storage can therefore represent an optimum tool for museum conservation, when understood as a change management process whose purpose is to exercise conscious and real influence on the durability of collections. Importantly, this process should correspond to contemporary environmental protection practices. Then, and only then, will museums be capable of protecting cultural heritage appropriately, without increasing risks to future generations. In Poland, the National Institute for Museums and Public Collections (NIMOZ) is currently implementing an infrastructure project entitled ‘The Central Storage Facility for Museum Collections’ (CMZM), whose concept encompasses the questions and problems referred to above. In effect, a shared storage facility will be built in the suburbs of Warsaw to provide high-quality protection for collections, while employing cost-efficient construction processes and low-energy solutions while in operation. The pilot project and case study represents a model solution: one that can be followed by museum professionals planning new collection storage facilities in other regions of Poland.

Keywords:

• collection protection
• case study
• shared collection
• storage facility
• museum conservation
• preventive conservation
• risk management environmental protection
• energy efficiency

Notes

1 Team members: Janusz Czop, Łukasz Bratasz, Anna Kłosowska, Grażyna Malik, Barbara Światkowska, in cooperation with external specialists: Roman Kozłowski, Wojciech Wicher and Michał Krawczak.

2 Team members: Janusz Czop, Łukasz Bratasz, Joanna Dudelewicz , Michał Dziuba, Natalia Fyderek, Paulina Gwoździewicz-Matan, Anna Kłosowska, Roman Kozłowski, Agnieszka Laudy, Sławomir Momot, Barbara Świątkowska, Wojciech Wicher

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janusz Czop

Janusz Czop is a conservator of works of art. Since 2019 he has been Head of Collections Management at the Museum of Photography in Krakow, Poland. From 1992 to 2019 he worked at the National Museum in Krakow, first serving as Head of the Conservation Department (1997-2019). Between 2013 and 2016 he was Deputy Director of Conservation and Collection Storage. Since 2015, he has served as an expert for the National Institute for Museums and Public Collections in Warsaw (NIMOZ), and since 2019 as Director’s Proxy for the Central Storage Facility for Museum Collections. He has been an ICOM member since 2014.