The first significant exhibition devoted to Roma/
Gypsy history and culture was organised in the Regional
Museum in Tarnów in 1979. After its success, collections
connected with the history of this ethnic group were initiated.
The Ethnographic Museum in Tarnów (the branch of the
Regional Museum) opened a permanent exhibition entitled
“Gypsies. History and culture” as the first permanent museum
exhibition devoted to Roma matters in 1990. The Gypsy
collections of the museum amount to almost 1000 exhibits;
moreover, it gathers professional photographic, cinematographic
and phonographic documentation and archives, and
it runs a specialised library.
Based on this permanent Roma exhibition and collections,
the museum in Tarnów organises numerous cultural
and educational projects, as well as those that promote
Roma culture and history. The International Roma Caravan
Memorial is a regular event which has been organised since
1996. It is a project which consists in a kind of a reconstruction
of a Gypsy wandering caravan, during which the
participants visit places connected with Roma martyrdom
during the Second World War in Małopolska. In addition,
the museum publishes a scientific annual entitled “Studia
Romologica”.
THE ROMA COLLECTION KNOWN AS THE AMARO
MUSEUM
