Sources of energy of civilization – the history of fossil fuels and Ignacy Łukasiewicz – the pioneer of the oil industry

An exhibition presenting the process of extracting and processing raw materials, such as crude oil, hard coal or natural gas.

The two-part permanent exhibition “Sources of energy of civilization – the history of fossil fuels and Ignacy Łukasiewicz – the pioneer of the oil industry” is an exhibition presenting the process of extracting and processing raw materials, such as crude oil, hard coal or natural gas. The first part of the exhibition focuses on the history of energy sources and the presentation of their extraction techniques. The second part of the exhibition is a tribute to the great inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz, referring to the 200th anniversary of his birth. The issues raised within this exhibition project are intertwined. It is impossible to tell the story of fossil fuels without the story of Ignacy Łukasiewicz. On the one hand, we have a story about a man with unquestionable merits in the field of oil mining – to the methods of exploration, extraction and finally processing of the raw material, and on the other hand, a huge range of topics related to the formation of high-energy raw materials, which are the backbone of the world’s energy industry.

The story we present begins in a very distant time, about 13.8 billion years ago, and ends in an era of real and painful energy problems. An era in which hope is given by the use of phenomena that had such a distant beginning. Man has always used the benefits of nature, observed his surroundings and nature to base his actions on it and start imitating it. This is where we should look for the source of our development, progress and learning.