Special exhibition from 12 March to 27 April 2025 in the Miejski Dom Kultury, Zgorzelec

To mark the anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, when Martin Luther's theses were posted in Wittenberg 500 years ago, the Silesian Museum in Görlitz and the Cultural Department for Silesia prepared the German-Polish travelling exhibition ‘Church travellers, bush preachers, praying children - 500 years of Protestant life in Silesia’. 

The exhibition is now being shown again. Under the motto ‘Citizens. Courage. Strength of faith. In times of awakening. 1525-2025’, the city of Görlitz is celebrating the anniversary of the Reformation in Görlitz and the surrounding area with a varied programme. The Reformation will also be commemorated on the Polish side. The panel exhibition on the history of Protestantism in Silesia will be on display in the Dom Kultury from 12 March to 27 April 2025.

Reformation in Silesia

Silesia was one of the core countries of the Reformation. From the 1520s, Martin Luther's teachings spread among the bourgeoisie and lower nobility and soon found influential supporters among the Silesian princes. By the end of the 16th century, three quarters of Silesia's parishes had become Protestant.

Silesian Protestantism was able to hold its own in the conflict with the Counter-Reformation, even when large parts of the population were converted back to Catholicism - including by force during the Thirty Years' War. The three Protestant peace churches guaranteed in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 were the starting point for the consolidation of the Lutheran denomination. They were the basis for the proverbial ‘Silesian tolerance’ in a bi-confessional country since the 18th century.

The exhibition traces the history of Protestantism in Silesia during industrialisation and through the catastrophes and challenges of the 20th century to the present day. A ‘common thread’ is the question of the relevance of Protestantism in a country that is predominantly Catholic today. Since the 1960s, the Polish Protestant minority in particular, in co-operation with the displaced Silesian Protestants and the Protestant Church in both German states, has been a driving force behind German-Polish reconciliation.  

The 15 exhibition panels will be available to borrow after the presentation.