Warsaw Museums Celebrate Visitor Boom

Bouncing back after two years of on-off lockdowns, Warsaw’s museums are looking to the future after announcing record-breaking attendance figures for the year just gone.

Of the more high-profile venues, the National Museum in Warsaw posted annual visitor figures of 470,831 to its main exhibition space, a considerable leap from the 289,079 people that filed through the doors in 2019. Particularly of interest was the temporary exhibition dedicated to Witkacy’s works, with queues of visitors often extending outside the building.

The Royal Castle in Warsaw drew over 1.7 million people, up from 1,033,098 in 2019, with their Botticelli exhibition accounting for 54,000 visitors.

Close by, the Museum of Warsaw declared figures of 236,356 compared to 225,556 in 2019, with their most-visited exhibition being the one honoring the iconic fashion designer Grażyna Hase (23,064).

However, whilst this was the best attended temporary exhibition held at the Museum since records began, it’s likely to be smashed by their current show celebrating 90s Warsaw. Opened in October, but running until the middle of February, the exhibition was visited by 16,031 people in its first two months alone.

Of the other big winners last year, Royal Łazienki Park’s cultural institutions welcomed 387,000 people, a considerable spike from the 2019 figure of 270,000. Attracting 40,000 viewers, the biggest crowd-puller proved to be the temporary loan of The Polish Rider, a Rembrandt that once belonged to King Stanislaus Augustus.

Although they failed to beat previous performances, Warsaw’s other big-ticket museums also seem to be recovering – the Rising Museum drew 513,589 people, down from their all-time high of 708,000 in 2019.