Museums, churches and whatnot are not really my thing. For vacation in Barycz Valley, I'd very much prefer to spend a day kayaking on Barycz River. But the weather forecast was awful. It was supposed to be cold, windy and rainy all week, therefore plans for the rainy days had to be made. One of those plans included visit in a certain unusual museum in Milicz - Museum of Christmas balls.
The place used to be a bauble manufactory, founded in the late 50's of last century. It operated until 2008, when it was repurposed (probably after bankruptcy). Now the area contains communal elementary school, a playground, cafe, a bauble atelier and conference halls for rent for business meetings. Everything looks and feels very modern. It look like they also organize workshops (for bigger groups) where you can try decorating Christmas balls yourself, using your own imagination or learning one of their signature designs. See their website if you are interested.
The entrance is through a cafe, where you buy tickets and can also buy some baubles.
Signature design mentioned earlier. My first impression of that particular display was that it shows a just formed red-giant star still surrounded by protoplanetary dust disk.
The whole thing is placed in a single spacious hall (there was another with some other exhibit), with baubles showcased on the walls, sorted by color, shape, decorating technique or theme. We, I mean my group, were not the only visitors, but we were lucky it was pretty empty. Thanks to that I've managed to take some photos that show no people :o)
Two extra walls in the center were covered with plates containing various trivia. My favorite was the one about Hans Greiner, who was first to create baubles for decorating Christmas tree - he did it, because he could not afford traditional decorations, that is, apples, nuts and candy. Since he was working in a glass factory, he had the know-how and opportunity to invent the glass decorations we all know today. There were also video displays with films that show process of making and decorating baubles. Ah, there were also some contraptions you could take at the entrance that were supposedly talking about the display, but I didn't use that.
Let's look at some examples.
I've sized down the photos significantly, to reduce their weight. I don't want to be banned for taking too much space on image hoster ;o)
First some traditional ball shape.
As you can see it's not just Christmas related themes, everything can be painted there. In fact there were also decorations related to political parties, events or with company logos.
If the ball shape is too simple, you can have a window that shows painting from inside...
..simple indentation...
...or even cut out a piece and place something extra inside the ball.
Then come changes to the shape. Starting from shapes close to a ball, that is, eggs or cones...
...through wide and narrow spindles or droplets...
...add some spikes, shape it like a bell or round(ish) fruits. Still looks simple enough.
Cucumber on a Christmas tree? Count me in :o)
But then come all kinds of complicated shapes - candy, dolls, Santas, snowmen, trees, etc.
Even designer bags.
How can they make such complicated shapes? It turns out it is not that hard as it seems at first (relatively speaking).
Not every shape can be achieved with "blowform" (a metal mold). The baubles that are cut and have other smaller shapes placed inside are most likely the hardest to make.
The museum has supposedly over 6000 unique Christmas balls, collected from each series that was ever produced there. Even though there was enormous amount of baubles on display, I doubt those were all.
Ah, I'd forget. Closed out of season, but outside the museum there was a Fish Truck, with typical summer menu - pancakes, ice cream, various drinks, as well as burgers with fries (including fish burger with locally raised carp).
Since we are in Milicz, let's have a look at the classicistic Palace of Maltzans. Located west of the market square, directly south of Barycz River that flows through the town, it is surrounded by parks. Its back is facing ruins of medieval castle made of bricks.
TBH the castle is nothing to see - real ruins that are in constant process of degradation. For that reason they are closed, you can only look from the outside, from behind the fence.
The palace itself was in the process of some repairs. It is also currently used as a school building, so I doubt there is any exhibit inside. At first I thought it's some military school, as the pupils were all dressed in some camo-olive uniforms, but it turns out it is a forestry technical school.
There were some things to look at though - silly donkeys on coat of arms...
...silly horses as bronze statues on the yard.
Another bronze statue - looks like a sitting boxer, judging by the gloves on his hands.
The most interesting was the sandstone fountain. It was not working and was apparently missing bronze relief plates that should be embedded in now empty spaces. Made by German painter and sculptor Cornelia Paczka-Wagner. The sculptures are not in their best shape currently, but since coat-of-arms and other decorations on the palace walls were restored, maybe it is a matter of time before the fountain will return to its original look as well.
At first I thought the guy on the left is just ogling the boobs of the lady on the right. Only then I've noticed there is third person hidden in the middle.
At the end I've also walked through adjacent park, taking photos of various trees and mushrooms. One was particularly surprising. When I hear "thuya", I picture big, but not too big - 2-3 meters tall bush planted on hedgerows.
My freestyle translation of known Polish rhymed saying that involves hedging with thuyas :o)
When neighbor is a dick
Some thuyas you pick.
Neighbor lady is nice?
Simple net will suffice.
Here it was a normal large tree, not yielding to any surrounding trees. Turns out these can actually grow really tall.
Wiki claims some species of thuya can grow up to 70m tall and 7m in diameter - seriously, WTF?
On a side note, unlike other trees, thuyas have such a nice soft bark, warm to the touch.