Adam Mickiewicz 1798–1855

The permanent exhibition „Adam Mickiewicz 1798 – 1855” is a biographical display at the Museum of Literature, presenting the poet's figure, his milieu and family, his political activity and literary work.

The exhibition, organised for the bicentenary of the poet's birth, presents the most valuable Mickiewicziana from the Museum's own collection. Besides the autograph of Grażyna and a page of the manuscript of Pan Tadeusz, visitors can see fragments of Mickiewicz's letters and first editions of his works, some with dedications. Numerous mementoes, among them a small picture from the Nowogródek house, the travelling trunk with which the poet left it, furniture from his study in the Arsenal in Paris, objects once belonging to his wife Celina née Szymanowska, photographs and family portraits, come from holdings acquired in 1952–1953, 1974 and 1978 from his granddaughter Maria Mickiewiczówna, from the great-grandson of Jerzy Gorecki, and from the widow of the youngest son Józef, Luiza Mickiewiczowa. They are displayed alongside objects belonging to Andrzej Towiański, from his home archive acquired in 1960, and items kept by Italian followers of the Master (handed over in 1977 by Prof. Marina Bersano-Begey of Turin).

Painting and graphic art, mostly by Polish artists, play an important role in the exhibition: Piotr Stachiewicz and Piotr Orłowski, Teofil Kwiatkowski, January Suchodolski, Jan P. Norblin, Piotr Michałowski, Cyprian Norwid, Napoleon Orda, Antoni Tepa, Zofia Szymanowska and others, as well as works of applied art. All the works bring the viewer closer to the era in which the author of „Ballady i romanse” lived and allow an encounter with Polish Romantic art. The famous portrait „Adam Mickiewicz wsparty na Judahu skale” from 1828 by Walenty Wańkowicz is easy to find, but it is worth paying attention to other works by this artist too.

The exhibition shows how Mickiewicz, one of the first generation of „Poles born in captivity”, became a Romantic, and for his compatriots also a bard; it traces the poet's path to Part III of Dziady and Pan Tadeusz. The „Slavic Byron” becomes an advocate of oppressed nations, and as a citizen of Europe he emphasises his origins on the Niemen. The exhibition presents Mickiewicz's varied political activity in exile, from articles in Pielgrzym Polski to the political and military mission in Turkey, which, like his earlier activities, was subordinated to the „national cause”.

Each of the exhibition's six parts documents a different stage in the journey of the Romantic artist and at the same time „orders” his biography.

Part I. Zaosie – Nowogródek – Vilnius, 1798–1824; Part II. Russia, 1824–1829; Part III. Travels, 1829–1832; Part IV. Paris – Lausanne – Paris, 1832–1840; Part V. France – Italy – Paris, 1840–1855; Part VI. Constantinople, 1855.

The exhibition includes over six hundred exhibits, most of which are described in the richly illustrated catalogue. The catalogue does not include objects added to the exhibition after its opening in 1998 (for example „Listy Braci Polskiej” from 1846 or Franciszek Tepa's „Portrait of Adam Mickiewicz” from 1857, in an oval frame). This is the fourth exhibition in the Museum's history presenting Adam Mickiewicz and his era.

Exhibition „Adam Mickiewicz 1798 – 1855” Museum of Literature Rynek Starego Miasta 20, Warsaw

Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday – closed Wednesday, Friday 11:00 – 16:00 Thursday 16:00 – 20:00 Saturday, Sunday: 11:00 – 18:00

„Hear and see Adam Mickiewicz” – a project carried out by the Fortima Foundation Film Academy of the Word and the Museum of Literature.

We invite our visitors to listen to the audio description of 42 objects on display in the permanent exhibition devoted to Adam Mickiewicz. Read by Paweł Straszewski.