The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw

The ruins of the Land Credit Society edifice (Kredytowa Street), designated as the new seat of The State Ethnographic Museum, 1960.

The formal move to the new premises at 1 Kredytowa Street began in 1971. Moving all the collections and divisions, arranging storage and preparing permanent exhibitions was a large-scale undertaking and a huge logistic challenge.

Collecting exhibits during the "gift for the museum" campaign, 1977.

In the museum’s main hall, opposite the main entrance, we have a modernly fitted reception, where guests and visitors are welcomed by Hatsune Miku – a cult manga character. She was made by Akamine Hidetoshi, and is dressed in an outfit inspired by Polish folk costumes, designed by famous fashion designer – Teresa Seda. This project was coordinated by Elżbieta Czyżewska.

The Museum for Children is housed in five rooms. They host workshops, museum lessons, book promotions and meetings with travelers.

The patio hosts temporary exhibitions, concerts, group dancing performances, multimedia installations, fashion shows and banquets.

In the cinema and conference hall we show films and multimedia screenings, we host conferences, academic sessions, trainings and lectures, dance, theater and music performances.

The library of The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw hosts a vast collection (30,000 volumes) of specialist publications from Poland and abroad.

The publications cover the topics of ethnology, ethnography, cultural anthropology, museology etc., as well as albums, encyclopedias and dictionaries.

The permanent exhibition “Celebration Time in Polish and European Folklore” was created in 2013 to celebrate the Museum’s 125th anniversary.

The exhibition "Order of Things - storeroom by Piotr B. Szacki" presents almost the entire collection (around 3000 items) primary economy and handicraft. You can see several versions of one tool or item, and at the same time – notice the details and the uniqueness of any particular object. Some pieces are “hidden” at first glance, stored on tall shelves, but one has to remember that this is a storeroom – not everything here is clearly exposed.

The exhibition “Beyond Faces-Masks, Puppets and Shadow Art from the NAMOC Collection” was presented between October 2014 and March 2015.There were a wide variety of masks and puppets used in China which originated from ancient religious ceremonies thousands of years ago. These masks and puppets were created with extraordinary skill by talented artists to tell stories, express emotions, and teach people about good and evil.

The exhibition "Football Stories" was presented between June and October 2016. The patron of the event was Bank Zachodni WBK. Our permanent exhibition “Celebration Time” transformed into a sporting shrine and filled itself with unique items from Poland’s largest collection, one belonging to the legendary sports journalist – Stefan Szczepłek.

The exhibition Things that Last presented the photographs of the Podhale region by Tomasz Tomaszewski- the recipient of several Polish and international photography awards, a contributor to National Geographic. It was presented between January 15th and February 14th, 2016.

The temporary exhibition in the Museum for Children "O! collection" - aims to direct our attention to children's collections and their contemporary aspects. Any child can take part in this exhibition and show off their collections.

The exhibition "Magic and Art of Bali" was comprised of three parts. The first, and most extensive section, was devoted to Balinese painting, the second focused on textiles, and the last was dedicated to sculpture. The exhibition lasted from October 2016 to March 2017.

“Biblia Pauperum.The Art of the Poor and Excluded. Depictions of God in Folk Art” exhibition makes use of the greatest exhibits from the collection of The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw.

The narrative presents the peasants’ take on the Bible and their understanding of the world and bases on Biblical and apocryphal elements of the story of the Salvation, present in folk art.

"Art's grey area – The Time of Art Brut" exhibition. Art brut is the grey area of art. Despite existing on the fringes of art, art brut has a definite influence on artistic movements, schools and trends while also proving to be a stimulus for transcending aesthetic barriers. Works by 31 art brut artists were shown during the exhibition. Among these artists were some of the most distinguished of their kind, such as Maria Wnęk and Edmund Monsiel. The exhibition was open from July to September 2016.

"Release project" - an interdisciplinary project that aimed to develop a modern version of the old, traditional crafts, which are placed in the Basic Economy and Craft Storehouse of The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw. New objects were created as a result of a close cooperation between craftsmen and designers.

"Women's carnivals" (2015) was the first national study of women`s rituals celebrated at the end of the carnival period. Ethnographic studies that documented contemporary rites were recorded on film.The project was funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and by the Mazovia Voivodeship.

The project “A Year of Rituals with Wikipedia”. We conducted field studies in cooperation with the Wikimedia Polska Association and young volunteers interested in ethnography and cultural studies. All the material (films, photographs and articles) is available on open licenses (CC-BY-SA 4.0 and CC-BY-SA 3.0 PL).The project was funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and by the Mazovia Voivodeship.