This is the English version of an article first published in Polish: read the Polish original. It refers to source material: Muzeum Plakatu w Wilanowie. The text is our own commentary, not a translation or copy of that source.
Five years ago the Poster Museum in Wilanów (Muzeum Plakatu w Wilanowie) closed its doors for a thorough renovation. In March, after that long break, it reopened, and it did so in a way the museum had never done before: for the first time it is showing a permanent exhibition. It is called "Plakat polski. Kolekcja" (Polish Poster. The Collection) and consists of 240 works that trace the last hundred and thirty years of everyday life on Polish streets, from posters of the Young Poland period, through interwar advertising and postwar propaganda, up to contemporary work. Names on the walls include Karol Frycz, Wojciech Jastrzębowski, Tadeusz Trepkowski and Waldemar Świerzy, among others.
The museum operates as a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw and was founded in 1968 as the world's first institution devoted solely to the art of the poster. Its birth was tied to the success of the Polish Poster School, which was winning international recognition at the time. Today its holdings run to around 62,000 works, Polish and foreign posters spanning the late nineteenth century to the present.
Where exactly to find the entrance
The museum building stands at ul. Stanisława Kostki Potockiego 10/16, on the grounds of the former palace and garden complex, in a spot that once housed the palace's riding hall. The entrance is easy to spot by the carved horses beside the door. It is only a few minutes' walk from the Palace in Wilanów itself, so a single visit to the park can easily combine both attractions. Parking is available near the palace for anyone arriving by car.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 am to 6 pm, with Mondays closed. Last entry to the exhibition is half an hour before closing. A regular ticket costs 22 zloty, a reduced one 16 zloty, and on Wednesdays admission is free. The permanent exhibition is not frozen in place either: in June the museum already unveiled another rotation of it, with a different selection of works from its rich collection, so it is worth coming back even after a first visit.
