History Hall has been opened

The ceremony was attended among others by the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Mrs Małgorzata Marcińska, the Starost of Wadowice, Mr Bartosz Kaliński, Mayor of Wadowice Mr Mateusz Klinowski, and representatives of Wadoviana Association, designers and architects of the exhibition Mrs Maja Gralak and Tomasz Wójcik, the Director of WCK Piotr Wyrobiec, retired and present employees and the management of the Company.

As it was indicated during the ceremony by Mr Marian Chrzanowski: 50 years is a solid piece of history, a history that obliges us to take good care of the mementos related to our company. By standing here, facing the people who created it, I am having a feeling of a great stage fright. But on the other hand, it is an honour that to conclude my professional career, I can lead the company to a success. Although it may sound trivial, it is you who laid foundations for the plant which still exists up to this day.

During the opening ceremony, people shared their memories. Mr Leopold Nowok, the general designer of PONAR Wadowice said: in the 60s, we were in close cooperation with the Andrychów Machinery Factory, where I was carrying out modernization and expansion works. When an idea of creation of a new industrial plant in Wadowice occurred, I was assigned to the job. The Head Architect of the Town indicated 3 different locations where the present day PONAR was to be built. The areas included a piece of land next to the barracks and the monastery at the road to Kraków. It was me who chose the most suitable location – the terrains next to the military barracks. When we initiated efforts to obtain documents allowing us to start the investment, the  Province Governor’s Bureau prohibited us from erecting the plant in this area, indicating another location. In my opinion, the new location was out of the question, it was too close to the river and it was a floodplain area. Therefore, a battle for words and documents broke out. The conflict was solved by nature itself – a period of torrential rains occurred and the problematic location was entirely flooded. My idea was accepted and we launched construction works at the Wojsko Polskie street.

In the History Hall one can find, among other things, photographs documenting construction of the plant, visitors can view the old production hall and the neighboring countryside, around the main Wadowice plant. The photographs collected depict also the people of the Company, who were constructing the plant, working at the production hall, people sharing their leisure time together. The museum owns numerous chronicles with memories from holidays, company’s trips and even… mushroom pickings!

The company for the completion of the project obtained funding from the European Regional Fund for Development of Rural Areas Europe investing in rural areas. The project is co-financed by the EU funds within the scope of the axis 4-LEADER Programme for Development of Rural Areas 2007-2013.

Below we present a photo documentation and a congratulations letter given to the Management by the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Mr Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and the Starost of Wadowice Poviet, Mr Bartosz Kalinski.

Media about us:

- news website wadowiceonline.pl

- news website powiatlive.pl

- news website wadowice24.pl