Warsaw used to look very different than it does today. Step through the mists of time to see photos of old Warsaw at Fabryka Norblina’s Art Box Experience.
Warsaw used to look very different than it does today. Step through the mists of time to see photos of old Warsaw at Fabryka Norblina’s Art Box Experience.
Up the escalator you must go and to the top of Fabryka Norblin. Actually, it’s worth a pause just there to consider the work that went into reviving this former 19th century metal factory. Impressed is an understatement.
Opened towards the end of March. This multi-sensory Retro Warszawa exhibition at Fabryka Norblin’s Art Box Experience has become one of Warsaw’s top alternative attractions. Due to run until the end of summer, join us for a look at what makes it special!
Retro Warszawa, the first exhibition held at Fabryka Norblina, is a striking journey through pre-war Warsaw. The installation showcases historical photographs, expertly colorized by Mariusz Zając. The images, seamlessly woven together with audio, create a brilliant foxtrot, taking visitors back into the capital’s inter-bellum golden years.
Matched with bustling street sounds, uplifting accordion music and tinkly piano tunes, the super-sized images are both curious and captivating in equal measure – elegant ladies posing at the Warsaw derby; dancing street urchins; whiskered rally drivers; and even a dog climbing a building site ladder.
The ‘documentary cinema’ room is perhaps the most joyful, dedicated as it is to celebrating Warsaw at play, but it’s the so-called panorama room that perhaps has the most impact. Here, wraparound images of the Great Synagogue and Pl. Piłsudskiego project onto all four walls, accompanied by smaller images set within.
The photos show weird events such as “the start of the cycling race to the Polish sea, 1930”. Also of note, it’s hard not to love the room that shows ‘the other face of Warsaw’. It’s here you’ll come face-to-face with haggard beggars, fraudsters, street kids and others living on the margins of society.
Thirty-minutes say the organizers, but you can take that with a pinch of salt – some will ‘do’ it in less than half that time, whilst others will be happy to lurk here for far longer than advised. We belong to that latter category – the big win here is their unusual and slightly eccentric choice of pictures. You don’t want to miss a single detail.
Regular tickets are priced between PLN 45 and PLN 55, though reductions are available for kids and students (PLN 35 and PLN 45). Family tickets, meanwhile, are set at PLN 105 and PLN 120. Yes, it is perhaps steep at first glance, but if you’re intrigued by Warsaw’s pre-war story then it’s absolutely a price worth paying.
According to Joanna Kowalkowska, the long-term ambition is to become one of Warsaw’s Top Five attractions, and although that might sound a little ambitious, there can be few places that we have enjoyed quite so much in recent times.
Art Box Experience
Żelazna 51/53 (Fabryka Norblina), website
