201 models

On 14-15 June, the 1st Przemyśl Cardboard Models Competition took place at the National Museum of the Przemyśl Land, addressed to modelers from all over Poland. Modeling is a very popular field all over the world, which involves creating faithful, three-dimensional models of objects or structures, contemporary or historical. We talk about the Przemyśl competition with its initiator and organizer, museum employee Tomasz Król.

What is this unusual undertaking?

- I will start by emphasizing that this is the first such event in the history of Przemyśl. Modelers from all over the country who entered the competition delivered models glued together from cardboard to the museum. Building a model involves cutting out ready-made patterns of elements, then skillfully gluing individual segments, from which the shape is recreated and as a result a ready model of an airplane, ship, sailboat, vehicle or architectural structure is created. This is how it looks in a nutshell, because due to the type of model, we have as many as thirty categories.

What is the purpose of this competition and exhibition?

- Modelling is not only a hobby, but also education. It develops spatial thinking, technical and historical knowledge. It develops manual skills, teaches patience and systematics, and above all precision. Some even claim that modelling has therapeutic properties and helps with calming down, which we have less and less of in our everyday lives. It is no coincidence that modelling is very popular in China and Japan, because you can see how technological development is progressing in these countries.

There was truly something to admire at the competition exhibition of cardboard models.

Looking at the models presented in the museum, can you see the enormous amount of work put into their construction?

– Indeed, some of them require a lot of complicated work. I will start with the simplest ones, such as the model of the Przemyśl clock tower, which takes a few hours to build, but building a large sailing ship, which consists of several thousand small elements and several dozen meters of lines, takes up to two years. For this, especially with historical models, knowledge contained in specialist literature is necessary.

Judging by the number of models presented from the ground floor to the second floor, one can conclude that modeling is popular.

– Two hundred and one modellers from all over the country entered our competition. They compete in three age categories: youngster – up to 13 years old, junior – from 13 to 17 years old and senior – from 18 years old. The models, divided into thirty categories, were assessed by the committee in terms of quality of workmanship, degree of difficulty and technical solutions.

We can talk about modeling for hours, but thank you for a handful of basic information and congratulations on the idea.

JS