A collection of seven daguerreotypes from the mid-19th century. Among these is the earliest dated daguerreotype in Cieszyn, depicting Eduard Klemens, a merchant and trader of metal goods who operated in Opawa until his death in 1862.
      This daguerreotype shows a middle-aged man from the knees up, dressed in a frock-coat and vest with a watch-chain and a white shirt with a tall collar tied with a dark tie. His left hand is holding a stick, leaning on the table upon which can be seen a top hat, turned upside down. This daguerreotype was taken in Cieszyn on May 20th 1852 by Johann Wilhelm Weniger, a photographer and daguerreotyper from Prague. He plied his trade not only in Prague, but also in the course of his travels throughout the Austrian Monarchy. His daguerreotypes taken in Bochnia and Kraków are particularly well-known.
      Daguerreotype is the oldest photographic technique. It was invented by two Frenchmen, Nicéphor Niepce and Louis J. Daguerre, and named after the latter. The invention was announced at a session of the Academie Francais in 1839, and it was altruistically given away to the world, without being patented. This was in effect the beginning of photography, which fundamentally changed the face of communications and of the world.
      Daguerreotyping is a method of obtaining photographic images on a silver-coated copper plate in a single, unique copy. The Daguerre method worked by subjecting the polished silvered plate to the action of iodine fumes which formed a light-sensitive layer of silver iodine. After exposing the plate for around fifteen minutes in a camera obscura through an optical lens, it was developed in mercury vapour and then captured in sodium hyposulphite. Thus prepared, the plate with the photographic image was cased behind glass in a cardboard passe partout, often with a carved or lithographed frame, or else in a leather etui, a very characteristic method of framing miniatures at that time.
      Daguerreotyping remained in use until around 1860, when it was replaced by the so-called damp collodion technique of photography.
      The Cieszyn Silesia Museum has in its collection a total of ten daguerreotypes, which is one of the largest collections of this kind in Poland.