National Museum (Muzeum Narodowe), Warsaw

During your visit to Warsaw, a local tour guide would certainly recommend a trip to the National Museum, which is a source of pride for Poland and happens to be the largest museum in the country. This remarkable institution houses an extensive collection of over a million sculptures, paintings, objets d'art, numismatic items, and drawings. These treasures have been amassed over a span of more than 140 years.

What distinguishes the National Museum's permanent galleries is their thematic organization rather than a strict chronological arrangement. Visitors can explore various genres, such as genre painting, still lifes, landscapes, cityscapes, biblical and mythological scenes, as well as nude art. What's intriguing is that you'll find works by Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, and Polish artists all exhibited together, facilitating the observation and comparison of artistic similarities and differences.

The museum boasts several distinct galleries, including the Gallery of Ancient Art, the Faras Gallery, the Gallery of Medieval Art, the Gallery of Old Masters, the Gallery of 19th-century Art, and the Gallery of 20th and 21st-century Art. Each of these spaces showcases the contributions of Polish painters and sculptors while placing them within the broader context of international art and different historical periods.

These galleries effectively convey the richness and diversity of artistic traditions and historical experiences from various nations. Interestingly, many of these cultures have constructed their cultural identities on the common foundation of Greco-Roman antiquity and the Christian religion.

Why You Should Visit:
To see the nation's most famous artwork, sculptures, and medieval religious artifacts that are fascinatingly old and not very often seen outside of Poland.
The museum also has some very good temporary exhibitions. There's a restaurant downstairs and a good café in the adjacent courtyard to the museum entrance.

Tip:
Particularly recommendable galleries are: the Faras Gallery which contains frescoes from a Nubian monastery which Polish archaeologists helped salvage during the building of the Aswan dam (you will not see any comparable art in Europe); the Medieval Art gallery which has some fantastic altar-pieces combining painting and sculpture; the gallery of European Art which has only been recently opened and combines painting and applied art (furniture, clothes, porcelain, etc) from the Renaissance and Baroque in some fascinating displays.