National Museum

The rather formidable looking National Museum building looks like the kind of place where state secrets are kept, the sort of set-up where you'd need a hundred passwords to get through the doors. But don't be put off by first impressions. The main body of the National Museum hosts some first rate shows of Polish and international art, and there are some gems in the permanent collection too. The newly renovated upper gallery draws the curtain back on Poland's late nineteenth century and twentieth century masters. A revelation. Furniture and decorative arts can also be explored.

Collection:

The Main Building features the newly renovated upper Gallery of the Twentieth Century Polish Art, one of the largest art galleries in Poland. It contains a collection of paintings and sculptures from the late nineteenth century on, including canvases by Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczółkowski and Włodzimierz Tetmajer; an extensive collection of works by Stanisław Wyspiański; and also, works by artists of the inter-war and post-war periods: cubists, expressionists, colorists, the avant-garde of the 1930s and representatives of New Directions from the 1960s.

The Main Building has a vast display of militaria ranging from twelfth to twentieth century. Decorative arts and crafts are exhibited in the Decorative Arts and Crafts Gallery, with gold, silver and precious stone artifacts ranging from twelfth to eighteenth century. The Museum has one of Poland's largest collections of Polish and Oriental antique rugs and carpets, as well as a collection of sixteenth to twentieth century costumes.