Fire and Water
The exceptional exhibitions are devoted to fire-fighting and the city waterworks. The former was prepared in the Spring 2004 on the occasion of 140th anniversary of the Bielsko-Biała Volunteer Fire Department. The Museum presents its own collection as well as souvenirs belonging to local headquarters of the National Fire Service, to Volunteer Fire Department from different city districts, as well as to private individuals. The largest exhibits are two horse-drawn carriages and the interwar sleighs equipped with fire hoses. In two showcases there are archival photographs (originals and replicas) showing fire stations in Bielsko and Biała, portraits of fire chiefs, a group of fire-fighters, emblems and badges, documents etc. Next, there are souvenirs connected with fire stations in Komorowice, Bystra, Lipnik, Leszczyny, Hałcnów and Straconka. The Exhibition is completed by OSP (Volunteer Fire Department) units’ banners, fire-fighting and life-saving equipment, a collection of nozzles, helmets and belts.
The exhibition devoted to the history of water supply to Bielsko-Biała is the most recent one (November 2005). It was prepared on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of Bielsko waterworks launch. One can find here many original technical drawings dating back to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Kept in the AQUA S.A. Company in Bielsko-Biała this is the first time they have been presented to the public. The drawings are: never executed Bielsko-Biała waterworks project by engineer Grahn (1887) with the aim to build water intake on the River Soła in Kęty-Podlasie, the project of waterworks for the City of Biała with water intake in Straconka by engineer Pfister (1898), and the project of the dam in Wapienica by Dyckerhoff & Widmann company (1927). The technical drawings are complemented by various postcards, photos and archives available thanks to National Archives in Katowice, Bielsko-Biała branch as well as a few old water meters.
Read more about this topic: Museum Of Technology And Textile Industry
Famous quotes containing the words fire and, fire and/or water:
“And where two raging fires meet together;
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I sometimes left a good fire when I went to take a walk in a winter afternoon; and when I returned, three or four hours afterward, it would be still alive and glowing. My house was not empty though I was gone. It was as if I had left a cheerful housekeeper behind. It was I and Fire that lived there; and commonly my housekeeper proved trustworthy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)