Collections Insight: Plymouth and Poland Connections

Twinning Photograph

This black and white image is one of many historic photographs in the display and dates from September 1976 when Plymouth became officially twinned with the Polish city of Gdynia. It looks like a posed press shot with the two men in the centre shaking hands – possibly Arthur Flood who was Mayor of Plymouth and Aleksy Latra who was President of Gdynia at the time – surrounded by a group of people in suits and two women in traditional Polish costumes.

Plymouth and Gdynia have a number of things in common. Gdynia is similar in size to Plymouth with a population of around 257,000 and was heavily bombed and had to rebuild itself after the Second World War. Since 1983 there’s been a street named ‘Gdynia Way’ in Plymouth, while Gdynia has had Skwer Plymouth (‘Plymouth Square’) since 1982.

Theatre Programme

This programme dates from the late 1980s and contains information about Teatr Muzyczny – the Music Theatre of Gdynia.

Theatre Royal Plymouth was the first theatre in the UK to present a production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ by Teatr Muzyczny. At the time the company had spent more than 30 years developing ‘a varied and exciting repertoire of American, English and Polish musicals’ which toured all over the world.

The programme sheds light on the musical comedy training Teatr Muzyczny offered at the time and the huge scale of its productions thanks to the ability it had to draw upon students from its stage school as well as a permanent ensemble of around 250 chorus members, corps de ballet and musicians.

Teatr Muzyczny’s visit took place 13 years after the twinning agreement between Plymouth and Gdynia was signed and is one of many initiatives that have helped to further strengthen the links between the two cities.

Ship Model

This beautiful shop model features sails made from silver and a hull made from shell. It was presented to Plymouth City Council in 2001 to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s twinning agreement with Gdynia. It’s part of the civic collection and is usually at the Council House, so this is a rare opportunity to see it on public display. One of the other things that Plymouth and Gdynia have in common is that they are both port cities which makes this a very fitting anniversary gift. Located on the Baltic coast of Poland, Gdynia was a fishing village for centuries before expanding and developing in the years following the First World War.

Loan Highlight

Costume

Traditional costumes like these come from Poland's Kraków region and are reminiscent of the outfits the women in our twinning photograph are wearing. This top was purchased from a specialist company and worn by a member of ‘Krakówia’ – a musical performance group that was part of the Anglo-Polish Society. The group performed in and around Plymouth for about 25 years and also travelled to gatherings and festivals in the Belgian town of Genk and the Polish city of Rzeszów in the mid-1980s. This item has been kindly loaned to The Box by a former member of the Society.

You can see Remember Respond Resist on display at The Box until the end of Sunday 11 January. Opening hours are 10am-5pm Tuesday-Sunday and selected bank holidays.