The past has, for as long as anyone can remember, captured the imagination and inspired reflection and contemplation. The double anniversary being celebrated this year in Zielona Góra – marking 800 years since the town’s foundation and 700 years since it was granted town privileges – provides an excellent opportunity to present to you the history of archaeological research in our town.
Archaeological work in the area of present-day Zielona Góra was already being carried out in the pre-war period. It focused mainly on prehistoric settlements and, to a lesser extent, on the town’s early history. Until the 1990s, work was carried out on a very small scale (small excavations were opened at Plac Powstańców Wielkopolskich and on Kupiecka Street). It was not until the investigations on Krawiecka Street in 1993 that archaeologists began to play a meaningful role in uncovering the city’s history. Over the course of these thirty years, researchers have carried out investigations at over 500 sites, both private and municipal, which have significantly enhanced our understanding of the city’s past. The oldest remains of wooden buildings, as well as later half-timbered and brick structures, relics of a wooden water supply system, sections of the city’s defensive walls, and cemeteries where former residents of Zielona Góra were buried have been discovered. The materials presented in the exhibition provide an insight into the nature of archaeological research in the city, demonstrating, through the artefacts discovered in the course of the excavations, how the needs of Zielona Góra’s inhabitants for various everyday objects have varied throughout history.