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Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

Mazovian Voivodeship or Mazovia Province is the largest and most populous of the 16 Polish provinces, or voivodeships, created in 1999. It occupies 35,579 square kilometres of east-central Poland, and has 5,411,446 inhabitants. Its principal cities are Warsaw in the centre of the Warsaw metropolitan area, Radom in the south, Płock in the west, Siedlce in the east, and Ostrołęka in the north. The capital of the voivodeship is the national capital, Warsaw. The province was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Warsaw, Płock, Ciechanów, Ostrołęka, Siedlce and Radom Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name recalls the traditional name of the region, Mazowsze , with which it is roughly coterminous. However, southern part of the voivodeship, with Radom, historically belongs to Lesser Poland, while Łomża and its surroundings, even though historically part of Mazovia, now is part of Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is bordered by six other voivodeships: Warmian-Masurian to the north, Podlaskie to the north-east, Lublin to the south-east, Świętokrzyskie to the south, Łódź to the south-west, and Kuyavian-Pomeranian to the north-west. Mazovia is the centre of science, research, education, industry and infrastructure in the country. It currently has the lowest unemployment rate in Poland and is classified as a very high income province. Moreover, it is popular among holidaymakers due to the number of historical monuments and greenery; forests cover over 20% of the voivodeship's area, where pines and oaks predominate in the regional landscape. Additionally, the Kampinos National Park located within Masovia is a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve.

National Museum, Warsaw

Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

The National Museum in Warsaw , popularly abbreviated as MNW, is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art , counting about 11,000 pieces, an extensive gallery of Polish painting since the 16th century and a collection of foreign painting including some paintings from Adolf Hitler's private collection, ceded to the Museum by the American authorities in post-war Germany. The museum is also home to numismatic collections, a gallery of applied arts and a department of oriental art, with the largest collection of Chinese art in Poland, comprising some 5,000 objects.The Museum boasts the Faras Gallery with Europe's largest collection of Nubian Christian art and the Gallery of Medieval Art with artefacts from all regions historically associated with Poland, supplemented by selected works created in other regions of Europe.

Museum of John Paul II Collection

Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

The Museum of John Paul II Collection in Warsaw, also known as the Porczyński Gallery or Carroll-Porczyński Collection, is a museum dedicated to its painting collection, which is housed in the building of the former stock exchange and National Bank. It is considered one of the finest collections of European art in Warsaw. The collection includes around 400 exhibits mainly Old Masters and the Impressionists along with some copies of masterpieces of European painting.

Royal Castle, Warsaw

Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a royal residence that formerly served throughout the centuries as the official home of Polish monarchs. It is situated in Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the royal court were located in the Castle from the 16th century until the final partition of Poland in 1795. Initially, the fortified complex served as the residence of the Masovian dukes. In the early 1600s, it was designated to replace Wawel Castle in Kraków as the seat of the King, Parliament , and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The medieval Gothic structure was remodelled into Italian mannerism by architects Matteo Castelli and Giovanni Battista Trevano. The Baroque easternmost wing was designed by Gaetano Chiaveri and completed in 1747. The Royal Castle witnessed many notable events in Poland's history; the Constitution of 3 May 1791, first of its type in Europe and the world's second-oldest codified national constitution, was drafted here by the Four-Year Parliament. Following Poland's loss of sovereignty, the castle was redesigned for the needs of the Imperial Russian and later German administration during the course of World War I. Under the Second Polish Republic , it was the seat of the Polish head of state and president. The Second World War brought complete destruction to the building; in September 1939 it was targeted and ignited by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft, and then detonated by the Nazis after the failed Warsaw Uprising in 1944. In 1965, the surviving wall fragments, cellars, the adjacent Copper-Roof Palace and the Kubicki Arcades were registered as historical monuments. Reconstruction was carried out in the years 1971–1984. In 1980, the Royal Castle and the Old Town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, it serves as a museum annually visited by over 500,000 people, and one of Warsaw's most recognizable landmarks.

King John III Palace Museum, Wilanów

Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

The Museum of King John III's Palace at Wilanów is a museum in Warsaw, Poland considered to be one of the oldest in the country and the repository of the country's royal and artistic heritage. The collection consists of valuables collected by subsequent owners of the Wilanów Palace, the Kings of Poland - John III Sobieski and Augustus II, as well as by representatives of noble families of Potocki, and Lubomirski and a collection of Sarmatian art.

Museum of Warsaw

Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

Museum of Warsaw is a museum in the Old Town Market Place in Warsaw, Poland. It was established in 1936.

Polish Army Museum

Masovian Voivodeship / Poland

Museum of the Polish Army is a museum in Warsaw documenting the military aspects of the history of Poland. Created in 1920, it occupies a wing of the building of the Polish National Museum as well as several branches in Poland. It's Warsaw's second largest museum and the largest collection of military objects in Poland. The collection illustrates a thousand years of Polish military history, from the 10th century to the Second World War.