When can the exhibition be visited?

The exhibition can be visited on October 8, 2026, from 10 AM to 5 PM at the Sorbian Museum Cottbus.

What is the admission fee?

The regular admission fee is 5 euros per person.

Where does the exhibition take place?

The exhibition takes place at the Sorbian Museum Cottbus, specifically Serbski muzej at Mühlenstraße 12, 03046 Cottbus.

What content does the exhibition show?

It shows a selection of around 200 glass negatives by Denis Galloway featuring portraits, traditional costumes, working worlds, markets, and life rituals of the Wends in Lower Lusatia and Spreewald.

Is the exhibition suitable for an art historical examination?

Yes, the exhibition connects historical photography, ethnography, visual cultural history, and Sorbian-Wendish regional history.

Discover Faces of a Time: Historical Photography and Sorbian-Wendish Culture in the Museum

Name: Denis Galloway – Woblica from the sunk casa / Faces of a Time
Start: 2026-10-08T10:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-10-08T17:00:00+02:00
Location: Wendisches Museum Cottbus / Serbski muzej

Faces of a Time: Photographic Memories of the Sorbs in Spreewald

The Sorbian Museum Cottbus presents for the first time a selection of around 200 glass negatives by the Scottish ethnographer, photographer, and artist Denis Galloway. His photographs taken between 1908 and 1914 lead to Lower Lusatia and Wittichenau and open a compelling artistic experience between historical photography, Sorbian-Wendish cultural history, and visual memory.

An Archive of Glass and Light

The glass negatives preserve faces, traditional costumes, working worlds, and rituals with fine contrasts and special material presence. In the examination of the works, ethnographic accuracy combines with a quiet aesthetic experience. The photographs appear both as historical sources and as independent compositions, in which posture, gaze, materiality, and spatial effect develop a concentrated visual language.

Everyday Life, Work, and Lived Identity

Galloway's photographs show people engaged in field work, at markets, and during significant life events. Portraits of children and women, family images, and wedding photographs provide insights into a regional society whose identity expresses itself in language, clothing, customs, and communal practice. The various traditional costume variants that today are rarely seen in comparable authenticity are particularly impressive.

Photography between Document and Art

The exhibition places Denis Galloway's work between ethnography, visual cultural history, and photographic art. His images possess documentary precision but also develop a strong aesthetic impact. The calm exhibition atmosphere invites viewers to read details attentively and discover traces of a past world of life in the faces, gestures, and materials.

The Sorbian Museum as a Place of Cultural Education

At the Sorbian Museum Cottbus, the historical photographs enter into a dialogue with the cultural history of the Sorbs and Wends in Lower Lusatia. The curation expands the visual examination to questions of memory, language, regional identity, and the transformation of rural ways of life. Thus, a visit to the museum connects art history, regional history, and cultural education.

Conclusion: A Photographic Journey into Lusatia

Visitors can expect a concentrated examination of works with rare historical photographs, impressive portraits, and authentic insights into Sorbian-Wendish life worlds. Those who wish to not only read the history of Lusatia but also experience it directly in faces, gestures, and images should definitely visit this exhibition at the Sorbian Museum Cottbus live. The artistic experience opens an intense aesthetic encounter between archive, memory, and cultural identity.