Tomek Sikora: To Sit in the Square...

This exhibition, translated and adapted from the museum’s Polish-language copy, is on view at the Pod Różą Gallery, housed in the Kuncewicz House - part of the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny. It presents photographs by Tomek Sikora devoted to the town’s market square, a place that has for years gathered cultural events, markets and everyday town life.

The Vistula Museum on the exhibition:

Although the photographs were taken 12 years ago, the market square still retains its unchanging atmosphere and charm, which Tomek Sikora captured with emotion, light and optimism. The exhibition is made available courtesy of the artist and Hotel Spichlerz.

What to expect

Tomek Sikora, born in 1948 into an artistic family, trained in Paris and worked as a photojournalist after returning to Poland. His work has been shown at exhibitions in Poland and abroad and has earned numerous creative awards. He now lives near Kazimierz Dolny and holds that landscape photography “should convey emotion” - hence the reflective, luminous character of the images on display.

This is a small, open-air display in the Pod Różą Gallery on the museum’s grounds, not a dedicated wing - fifteen minutes of unhurried looking is enough. It has been open since 4 March 2026 and, per the museum’s own listing, is due to run through December 2026 (no exact closing day is published). Entry to the museum’s temporary-exhibitions gallery is priced separately from its permanent departments: 10 PLN standard, 5 PLN reduced, 25 PLN family. Because Pod Różą is an open-air courtyard gallery, it is worth asking at the ticket desk whether this particular display needs its own ticket or can be seen while walking through.

Context

Tomek Sikora took up photography seriously in Paris, where he went at twenty on a Kodak scholarship; back in Poland he spent a decade as a photojournalist for the weekly “Perspektywy”. From 1982 he lived in Australia, teaching photography at Victoria College in Melbourne and running his own advertising studio, before co-founding Galeria Bezdomna with Andrzej Świetlik in 2001 to promote independent photography. His work has earned the Złoty Wawrzyn Olimpijski (1980), the “Zasłużony dla Kultury Polskiej” honour (2007) and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2013); he now lives a few kilometres away in Męćmierz, near the market square he photographs.

Tickets and time

Winter season (October-March): open daily except Tuesdays, generally 09:00-16:00 depending on the department. Summer season (April-September): daily 10:00-17:00. Ticket sales stop 30 minutes before closing. One day a month is free for individual visitors, but the date rotates - check the museum’s visit page before you go rather than assuming it lands on a weekend.

Worth it for: anyone already heading to the market square who likes landscape photography - you can take this in on the way, without setting aside a separate evening for the museum. Skip if: you want a large, curated show with several rooms; this is a compact, open-air display, not that. English on site: the museum’s website has no separate English version (mnkd.pl/en/ returns a 404) and no English labels, audio guide or tours could be confirmed for this exhibition - budget for Polish-only text panels.

What the press says

Gość Niedzielny, Lublin edition (2 March 2026, byline “ag”): praises the photographs’ upbeat tone and quotes the artist saying he always hoped his work would be seen as something that brings people joy, not another record of hard times - positive coverage. Read it .

Tickets, opening hours and current information are available on the Vistula Museum’s website .

Museum profile: Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny .