Samstags im Museum: Sagenhaft! Schreib- und Erzählwerkstatt

Upper Silesia has many exciting sagas and legends to offer. Get to know them during a visit to the Upper Silesian Museum. Creative minds will also get their money's worth - let your imagination run wild and learn how to put your ideas on paper and turn them into your own book in the writing and storytelling workshop.

Only after registration until 13.11.2025 at vermittlung@oslm.de.

To coincide with the current special exhibition "Silver fever. Tarnowitz mining - the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Upper Silesia", we will give you an insight into the legends of Tarnowitz.

The legends from Tarnowice revolve around mining, have a lot to do with water and touch on the beginnings of the town. In addition to the semi-historical tales about the farmer Rybka, who found the first lump of ore in a field near Old Tarnowice, the story of the 16th century mine foremen, the "White Lady" at Neudeck Castle (Świerklaniec) or the will-o'-the-wisps, the tales about the mountain spirit are among the most popular motifs of the local legends.

The mountain spirit, also known as "Skarbnik" in the Upper Silesian-Polish dialect, was a being that watched over the mines, punished the unteachable and helped the weak. He was depicted in various ways - as a powerful old man with a beard, hood and miner's lamp; however, he could also take the form of another person or even an animal. Stories about the "Skarbnik" were still extremely popular in the 20th century. In 1927, many of them were collected and published in a volume by the Tarnowitz worker writer Karl Franz Mainka (1868-1938).

The rivers Drama or Stola (the name is derived from "Stollen") and the pools called "Pingen" - a consequence of mining - were, on the other hand, associated with stories about the water sprite. This figure, called Utopletz in the Upper Silesian dialect (derived from the Polish utopić - to drown), was a small water demon. It was usually depicted as a human-like creature, often dressed like a human - usually with a red frock coat - and with webbed fingers and toes. This mischievous creature would lie in wait for people passing by ponds or rivers at night - especially drunks - to pull them into the water and abduct them into its underwater realm.