Museums

Edith Stein Pro Memoria Museum in Lubliniec

At 2 Edyty Stein Street, almost on the market square of Lubliniec, stands the town house that held the home of Edith Stein's grandparents — the Courant family. Since 28 February 2009 it has housed the Edith Stein Pro Memoria Museum, a modern institution devoted to the philosopher, Carmelite and saint.

The saint's childhood town

Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Wrocław into a wealthy German Jewish family. Lubliniec was her favourite town — as a child she came here to visit her grandparents. From an atheist she became a philosopher and a convert, eventually the Carmelite Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She died in the Auschwitz camp, most probably on 9 August 1942. She was beatified in 1987, and in 1998 John Paul II canonised her. Today Edith Stein is the patron saint of Lubliniec and of Europe.

Two rooms and a stone threshold

The museum consists of two rooms with a permanent exhibition and a multimedia presentation devoted entirely to Edith Stein. Its most precious relic is the stone threshold on which little Edith liked to sit during her childhood visits to her grandparents. Lubliniec also has a parish under her invocation.

Practicalities

The museum is open on Mondays and Wednesdays 8.00–16.00, on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10.00–18.00, on Sundays 9.00–17.00; Fridays and Saturdays are closing days. Contact: tel. +48 34 356-28-27. Lubliniec lies on the road from Katowice to Opole, and the museum is a good first stop for learning about the town's ties with the saint — afterwards see the St Mary Magdalene church and the historic market square.