Ignacy Lukasiewicz Petroleum Industry Museum
Named for Ignacy Lukasiewicz, the father of the Polish petroleum industry, the Petroleum Industry Museum is located in Bóbrka on the site of the first European oil field, and has outdoor displays of oil drilling rigs and equipment. Although this field is old, many of the buildings have been preserved and some of the wells are still operational, producing small amounts of oil.
Staszek in front of the petroleum museum building.
According to http://www.sjgs.com/history.html The first oil wells were drilled in China in 347 B.C. The first modern oil well was drilled in Asia in 1848, and the first oil well in Europe was drilled right here in Bobrka, Poland in 1854. It wasn't until 1858 that the first North American well was drilled in Canada, and the first US well (in Titusville, Pennsylvania) was not drilled until 1859. The picture below is of that first Polish well (a reproduction on the original site).
The first European oil well, drilled in 1854.
And the plaque that says so.
A tourist poses at the first Polish oil well.
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Page last updated May 02, 2004