Ethnographic Museum (Muzeum Etnograficzne)

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Mutt
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State Ethnographical Museum

  • June 7, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Mutt from Ankara, Turkey
State Ethnographical Museum

Founded in 1888, the State Ethnographical Museum has assembled a collection of 74,000 artifacts from all over Poland, central Europe, and the rest of the world. These are displayed across seven permanent exhibits in its Warsaw museum.

The first floor contains the museum’s African, Australian and Oceanian, and Latin American Galleries; these three relatively small rooms are packed with exciting artifacts from all over the world. Highlights include an impressive collection of African ceremonial masks, a wide array of Australian Aboriginal boomerangs, and a vast collection of children’s toys from across Latin America.

Across the four galleries on the second floor, the museum delves deep into the cultural legacy of the Polish people. The Folk Arts and Crafts Gallery examines the tools and techniques of everything from wood carving to amber work, while next door in the Gallery of Polish Folk Art, some of the artisans' output is on display. The Polish Folk Costumes Gallery contains case after case of authentic Polish garb, and if you think that some of these costumes are weird, wait until you get next door where the Polish people dress up as devils and donkeys and perform arcane rites for the surreal Polish Seasonal Rituals Gallery.

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from around 10am until 5pm, entrance is 8 zloty, and, although all the exhibits are in Polish, wandering around looking at the weird and wonderful artifact creates a magical experience that needs no translation.

From journal Warsaw: Poland's Reconstructed Heart

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