Titanic exhibition comes to Warsaw
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
10.04.2016 12:03
Some 200 original items from the Titanic and life-size reproductions of the ship’s rooms are on display in the Palace of Culture in Warsaw.
The Titanic (right), pictured on March 6, 1912, alongside sister ship The Olympic. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The items include part of the first-class stairway, letters written by the First Officer William Murdoch on board the ship, a postcard in which a third-class passenger praised the luxurious conditions of travel, private photographs of passengers, and a pair of children’s shoes which four year-old Louise Kink had on when tragedy struck.
Kink escaped from the disaster alive, and died in 1992, as the last of the Titanic survivors.
All the objects on display have been recovered from the wreck of the ship.
Staged by Musealia Entertainment and the Titanic Foundation, the exhibition has earlier been shown in the United States and three European cities: Stockholm, Barcelona and Belfast. It remains on show in Warsaw until 9 October.
The Titanic sank in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg. The tragedy claimed the lives of 1,495 people.
Bożena Aksamit, one of the ambassadors of the exhibition, has told the Polish Press Agency that there were a dozen or so Poles among the passengers. The exact number cannot be ascertained as the official list of passengers does not specify their nationality.
It includes some typically Polish names, such as Ostrowska, Kozłowski, Pawłowicz, among those travelling third class.
Polish Roman Catholic priest Józef Montwiłł, who was travelling to the US to take up the parish of Worcester, Massachusetts, is said to have refused a place on one of the ship's life boats, choosing instead to administer his priestly duties and offer solace to his fellow travellers. His body has not been recovered. (mk/pk)