Where did the SILVER come from in Legnica?
Legnica is a historic town of almost 100,000 people, located in Lower Silesia region in south-western Poland. This location is unique as Polish, Czech and German traditions meet here. For centuries the region has been famous for its natural resources, especially gold, silver and copper deposits. Today, mines and smelters are still thriving here, producing copper and silver in the quantities relevant on the world’s scale. The artistic trace of this activity is Legnica SILVER Festival.
For over forty years, the Gallery of Art in Legnica has specialised internationally in the presentation and promotion of contemporary jewellery and artistic objects made mainly of silver. It organises individual and group exhibitions of Polish and foreign artists, publishes exhibition catalogues, organises popular science seminars, jewellery and fashion shows, competitions and jewellery workshops. The most important jewellery-related event organised by the institution is SILVER Legnica Festival held in May.
More than 40 years have passed since the first official silver jewellery show was organised in Legnica by Marek Nowaczyk. His idea fell on fertile ground – many artists and lovers of jewellery art got involved in the event very quickly. Marek Nowaczyk was commissioner of almost all the reviews until 1998. The first shows of artistic jewellery were organised jointly by the BWA Gallery – the Black Gallery – as the Gallery of Art was called then, Desa and the District Copper Museum. Soon, the Gallery itself took the event under its wing and continues this mission to this day – in the form of Legnica SILVER Festival. At the turn of the century, the position of the main consultant of the event and the international competition was entrusted to Professor Sławomir Fijałkowski, who for the next 20 years had a direct influence on the development of Legnica SILVER Festival, changing its scope from national to European and then worldwide. In the years 2006-2019, the direct care of the organization of Legnica SILVER Festival was coordinated by the co-curator, and later by the curator Monika Szpatowicz. Over the 40 years of Festival history, the event has undergone a considerable evolution, changing its programme to achieve today's form and international prominence.
