The Bobrka Oil and Gas Museum And Glass at Krosno

Posted on by

24/08/2023

Great quiet night, and we were the first museum guests at 8.30. Corrie allowed in, and a fuss of her duly made.
The museum claims to be the oldest continuous oil drilling site in the world. Suspect our evening nodding donkey drilling last night in the woods justifies the ‘continuous’ part of that claim.
Interesting museum with an audio guide explaining how initially the shafts were hand drilled, then various impact drills using a drop from a height method, then steam and electricity.
The best was the world’s oldest surviving hand dug shaft named Franek from 1860. The pit was a shallow square … and it still has oil filling it. Bubbling or burping from the gas. Bloody amazing.

Looking inside Franek. Still filling with oil since 1860. Gloop gloop as gas is released.
A hand winch to collect the oil in buckets
Largest oil production here was 1902-04. Still drilling for oil in the Carpathian Mountains.
At it’s height … thousands of workers. The owners instigated and insurance policy in the late 1800s, for injured workers or desceased’s families.
Kerstin has recently been on a 2 day course working in a forge to make a kitchen knife. She recognised most of the tools. Interestingly, her knife is forged from a lawn mower blade, as the steel is super strong.
We saw various methods of impact drill. The more recent descending 3.5 km.

We shifted to Krosno. Unfortunately, Kerstin has had to cut her time with us short. She’s been receiving at least one call daily from a tenant about another annoying idiot tenant. The idiot has been switching off the WiFi router, putting his mattress in the lounge, breaking into another tenant’s room looking for money… police have been called. He’s a known drug addict. And needs evicting from Kerstin’s apartment.

We parked near the train station and bought a load of cheap water from Lidl … cheaper than going on a campsite! Then had a wander into the town. Another large square and some impressive buildings. Kerstin treated us to lunch. Beef cheeks was my delicious choice.

Kerstin and I went into the Franciscan Church. A display about a local family put to death for harbouring Jews. Even the small children. Apparently, only 21 Jews in the area survived detection and extermination.
Kerstin on her train at 4.00. Helped by a local to buy her ticket. It took 3.5 hours as it stopped everywhere. The lovely lad in the TIC had tried to persuade her to go by bus, but we’d seen the traffic around Krakow, so knew that 4.5 hours could be much longer.
Whilst J nanny napped with Corrie. I went around the Krosno glass museum. Krosno was the Polish centre for glass. Main production is outside the town, but there were several live demonstrations and I got to press a piece of molten glass.
Impressive 3d floor
I prefer Dartington glass, where you actually walk above the real production area
Several displays of glass … this artist fusing opacity with glass
The second part of the tour was in cellars under the square. More artists’ work and a display about how glass is used in science.

James and I drove about 30 mins north to a free carpark just under a ruined castle. We went into busy mode. Cleaned the rugs. Cleaned the van. Stripped Kerstin’s bed and found the extra money she’d left for us. It’s always a game, finding where she’s stashed extra money … usually in a guidebook. We will just have to go via her house to Albania in October to return it and her walking poles, which I found in her garage! Oh, and we both had a flannel wash …as good as a shower! Honest!!!

Leave a comment