“Ordinary – Extraordinary: The Ethnographic Museum’s Fascinating Collections” is The Museum’s exhibition for 120th anniversary. The exhibition presents academically and artistically most valuable objects from the Museum’s collection and the process of introducing them into the collection. The exhibition’s classic form leads us through the 120 years of the Museum’s history. The variety of the presented objects reflects the journey through time and space and the exhibition invites visitors to participate in that exploration.
The exhibition shows different ways of acquiring the objects for the Museum: transfers from other museums and museum storerooms, competitions and campaigns, academic and artistic partnership with various institutions, participating in student expeditions, co-operation with folk and non-professional artists, purchases and gifts from collectors.
Some objects were acquired by the Museum’s employees in Poland, others in Europe or distant regions of Africa, South or Central America, or Oceania.
The exhibition received the Wydarzenie Muzealne Roku Sybilla 2008 [Museum Event of the Year] award for the best ethnographic exhibition and won the 3rd edition of the Mazowieckie Zdarzenia Muzealne – Wierzba 2008 [Mazovian Museum Event] competition.
National Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw
The National Ethnographic Museum is a space where the achievements of world culture meet with individual sensitivity, becoming an inspiration to discover the beauty of diversity.
The State Ethnographic Museum – one of the oldest ethnographic museums in Poland. The museum was founded in 1888 and houses over 80,000 objects and about 120,000 archives. The Ethnographic Museum presents several permanent exhibitions and over a dozen temporary exhibitions a year.
In modern interiors, we present permanent and temporary exhibitions of interdisciplinary character and diverse themes. The autonomous structure of our institution is dedicated to the youngest Children’s Museum, where you can touch everything. The museum also has a library and the Antropos cinema with an unconventional repertoire. In the Bílý Koníček café you can get acquainted with the offer of the bookstore and shop while drinking coffee. In addition, the museum hosts trade fairs, special events, meetings with authors, workshops and seminars. Therefore, we encourage you to actively participate in culture – children, youth and adults.
National Ethnographic Museum diversity and richness of cultures around the world and present their values as a nationwide good, thus contributing to the development of an open society.