The song written for the Polish Legions in Italy, later known as Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, became the national anthem only 130 years after it was written. During that time its lyrics were repeatedly censored, altered, and even banned. The turbulent history of the anthem is presented in the part of the permanent exhibition titled „The Fates of Dąbrowski's Mazurek”. Among the exhibits, the collection of patriotic jewellery from the second half of the 19th century deserves special attention.
The displayed collection includes various versions of the song, 19th-century mourning jewellery, and objects with music boxes playing the melody of the Mazurek, which the censors had banned. The exhibition shows how popular the song was during the November Uprising, the Spring of Nations, the period of national mourning, the January Uprising, and the repressions that followed. The motif of Polonia and the symbolism of an enslaved Poland is linked with the presentation of women, heroines of the national uprisings.
The exhibition also addresses such topics as Poland regaining its independence, the building of statehood in the Second Polish Republic (including the re-establishment of national symbols), the role of the anthem during World War II, in the times of the People's Republic of Poland, and during the strikes organised by „Solidarność”. The exhibits come from the own collections of the National Anthem Museum and from the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw.
Curators: Przemysław Rey, Małgorzata Gańska
The Fates of Dąbrowski's Mazurek
Permanent
