National Museum in Warsaw

The National Museum in Warsaw, established in 1862 as the Museum of Fine Arts, is one of the most important cultural institutions in Poland. Its building, constructed between 1927 and 1938 according to the design of Tadeusz Tołwiński and Antoni Dygat, is a modernist structure that was damaged during World War II, though many of its collections were successfully saved. Today, the museum holds over 800,000 objects, including ancient art, Polish paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, as well as foreign artworks. The foreign art collections comprise around 4,000 paintings, representing great European names such as Pieter Aertsen, Sandro Botticelli, Rembrandt, and Gustave Courbet. It houses renowned paintings and graphic works, including Polish drawings and prints, which have amassed approximately 85,000 prints and 15,000 drawings. The museum also showcases 19th and 20th-century Polish painting, with works by artists such as Jan Matejko, Olga Boznańska, and Jacek Malczewski. The collections have been enriched in various ways, including through donations, purchases, and as a result of restitution efforts after World War II. The museum has undergone numerous structural changes and has operated as a municipal institution since 1916. It has played a key role in Polish culture, organizing numerous exhibitions, including, in 2010, one on the rarely displayed theme of homoerotic art. The museum also boasts rich collections of decorative arts, sculpture, coins and medals, and photographs. One of the more interesting facts is that the museum recovered many works from the World War II era, with its staff actively involved in their protection. Key figures in the museum's development include Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski and Prof. Jan Białostocki, who made significant contributions to the popularization and study of art. In addition to its main headquarters, the museum includes branches such as the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture and the Poster Museum at Wilanów. As one of the first museums in Central and Eastern Europe to make its collections available online, it has significantly increased accessibility for a broad audience.