Exhibition of Original Posters by Łukasz Tarkowski
from 11 August 2026
Twenty posters that Łukasz Tarkowski designed for the events of Lublin’s open-air village museum now hang side by side on the fence at its entrance. It is a fifteen-minute outdoor show, best treated as the prelude to a longer walk round the skansen. The museum publishes no English text on the show, so the quotation below is our translation of its Polish announcement.
Lublin Village Open-Air Museum on the exhibition:
From 11 August a new open-air exhibition can be seen on the fence of the Lublin Village Open-Air Museum: a cycle of 20 original posters by Łukasz Tarkowski, devoted to the recurring events the Museum organises.
This is more than a set of posters promoting museum events. Brought together into one cycle, they form a visual story of the old ritual and farming year - its work, its celebrations, its rites and customs. The exhibition shows two inseparable dimensions of life in a traditional community: material culture, bound up with daily work and the farm, and spiritual culture, whose rhythm was set by feast days, rites and customs.
What to expect
This is an outdoor display with no gallery room: the posters hang in a single row on a black metal fence just in front of the museum entrance. The designer is a research associate in the museum’s own research department, so these are a staff member’s posters for events he was advertising. Each tall poster is built around one bold image and the name of the event.
Five you can pick out in the photographs the museum published with its announcement:
- “Przywołajmy wiosnę!” (Let’s Call Up Spring) - a white stork holding a sprig in its beak, on yellow; it hangs on the fence beside the entrance turnstile.
- “Jarmark koński” (Horse Fair) - black and white horses on orange, the title set in a blue cloud.
- “Pokaz orki i prac polowych” (Ploughing and Fieldwork Show) - a single plough with a red blade over green diagonal stripes.
- “Opowieści andrzejkowe” (St Andrew’s Eve Tales) - a huge key with a heart in its bow, plus a candle and a shoe, props known from St Andrew’s Eve fortune-telling.
- “Herody” (The Herod Play) - a crowned king with a tiny figure of Death carrying a scythe.
The same photographs also show the posters for the open-air dances, Midsummer Night, the harvest, the manor harvest festival, Flax Sunday, Palm Sunday, potato digging and cabbage peeling.
Context
The posters follow the old village calendar, in which fieldwork and feast days took turns. Two images need explaining to a visitor from abroad. St Andrew’s Eve, the night of 29 to 30 November, is Poland’s traditional evening of fortune-telling; one custom is pouring hot wax into cold water, often through the eye of a key, and reading the future from its shape. The Herod play is a folk nativity drama performed by carol singers between Christmas and Epiphany, in which Death takes King Herod’s life and the Devil takes his soul.
Tickets and time
Do you need a ticket? The museum does not say. It states only that the exhibition hangs on the fence just in front of the entrance, and the description of one of its photographs places two posters beside the turnstile with the ticket scanner and the sign “WEJŚCIE” (entrance). Admission to the open-air museum is 30 PLN standard, 20 PLN reduced and 60 PLN for a family holding a Polish large-family card; children under seven go free. Buy at the ticket office or in the museum’s online ticket shop .
Opening hours. The museum has not announced a closing date for the exhibition, so here are the hours for the months ahead. Until 30 September it is open daily 9:00-19:00; in October daily 9:00-17:00; from November to March Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-15:00. Last entry is one hour before closing. It is closed on 1 November, from 24 to 31 December and on 1 and 6 January.
Free admission days. The museum’s visiting page (Polish) gives no dates for them, but warns that on free days the interiors of its historic buildings are closed. That applies to the displays indoors; the posters hang outside.
How long. Allow 10-15 minutes for the twenty posters and two to three hours for the whole open-air museum.
English on site: the posters are in Polish, and the museum’s page about the show exists only in Polish. Guided tours of the museum in English are available for groups: 200 PLN for up to 15 people and 260 PLN for 16-30, plus admission, booked by phone at least seven days ahead.
Who it is for: families heading into the skansen anyway - the posters preview what goes on here through the year, and children will quickly spot the stork, the horses and the cabbage. Also worth it for anyone who likes contemporary graphic design drawn from folk motifs. Who can skip it: do not make the trip for the posters alone; the museum is about 5 km from the Old Town, at al. Warszawska 96, reached by city buses 18, 20, 30 and 37.
Events
Two autumn events at the museum whose posters hang on the fence. The dates come from the museum’s printed calendar for the year; both event pages say details will follow, and for another autumn event the announced date already differs from that calendar, so check the programme before you go.
- 29 November 2026 (Sunday) - “Opowieści andrzejkowe” (St Andrew’s Eve Tales): evening gatherings, folk love fortune-telling and storytelling; times and prices not yet published - museum calendar , event page (Polish).
- 11 October 2026 (Sunday) - “Obieraczki kapuściane” (Cabbage Peeling): peeling and pickling cabbage, with a display of cabbage dishes; times and prices not yet published - museum calendar , event page (Polish).
What the press says
Nobody has reviewed the show, and there is no English-language coverage, as of 23 September 2026. Two Polish news items appeared in the week it opened:
- Lublin112 (12 August 2026, newsroom): a report that restates the museum’s announcement; the site adds that the show can be viewed during a visit to the skansen and recommends it to anyone wanting a contemporary take on folk tradition - link .
- TVP3 Lublin (13 August 2026): a video report of under two minutes, titled “The history of the skansen on posters”, with no text on the page - link .
See also
- Lublin Village Open-Air Museum - what lies behind the fence: seven regional village sectors, the Żyrzyn manor house and a 1930s market town.
- Mroszczak International Typography Triennial - typographic posters among other entries, at the House of Words, until 30 September 2026.
- Posters gifted by Krzysztof Dydo, Alfred Hałasa and Dorota Folga-Januszewska - Polish art posters donated to the National Museum in Lublin, at Lublin Castle until 1 November 2026.
- Poster Museum at Wilanów - if the posters leave you wanting more: the world’s oldest poster museum, in Warsaw.
The museum’s announcement with photographs of the posters is on its news page , and prices and hours are on its visiting page (both Polish only).
Museum profile: Lublin Village Open-Air Museum .
Tickets and access
The museum does not say whether you need a ticket to see the posters; it states only that they hang on the fence just in front of the open-air museum entrance. Admission to the Lublin Village Open-Air Museum is 30 PLN standard and 20 PLN reduced.