Prologue - sculpture by Kacper Gaczkowski

A solo sculpture show by a student at the Faculty of Arts of Lublin’s Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) stands in the open air in the Rosarium, the rose garden of the university’s Botanical Garden. This site files the garden’s shows under the Kościuszko Manor House, but these works stand among the roses, not inside the manor. It runs until 31 October 2026. The garden publishes no English text, so the quotation below is our translation of its Polish description.

UMCS Botanical Garden on the exhibition:

The exhibition Prologue presents the beginning of its author’s path in sculpture - he is a student of the UMCS Department of Sculpture and Ceramics - and heralds his future artistic explorations. Although some of the works on show differ in theme, their common denominator remains constant experiment with form, with material and with the range of questions they take up. The exhibition is the result of two years of intensive studio work. It shows the artist’s development so far and at the same time heralds his newest series, now in progress, titled Pogoń.

The open-air exhibition is on view from 1 June to 31 October 2026 in the Rosarium section.

What to expect

This is sculpture in a landscape: no gallery room, no display cases. The Rosarium is a one-hectare collection of about 500 rose species and cultivars on the gentle slope below the manor house. On the garden’s map it is section IX, at the southern end, while the ticket office and entrance on ul. Willowa are at the far northern end. Expect to walk the full length of the garden to reach the sculptures.

The garden gives neither the number of works nor their titles. The exhibition page carries three uncaptioned photos of sculptures: a white female nude, a rounded white form close to abstraction, and a relief with a figure in a gold-and-green patina. The spread is wide, which fits the promise of experiment with form and material. The garden does not say whether pieces from the “Pogoń” series (Polish for “the chase”) are already on display.

Right next to it, in the same Rosarium, is the group show “Debuts” (“Debiuty”), and Gaczkowski is one of its eleven authors. Both opened on 1 June 2026 at the manor house, together with the student film show “Young Movie”, as part of a series called “Master and Student”. The student sculpture shows were prepared under the supervision of Piotr Zieleniak, whose own sculptures stand beside the manor this season.

Context

Kacper Gaczkowski finished the Józef Brandt Secondary School of Fine Arts in Radom, a city about 100 km south of Warsaw, in 2024. According to the faculty, in January 2026 he was in the second year of an art-education degree at UMCS. He works mainly in printmaking, including linocut and etching, and in sculpture, and his main subject is the human being: the psyche, and the body as form.

In winter 2026 a youth arts centre in Lublin, Młodzieżowy Dom Kultury nr 2, showed his drawings and prints from 2023-2025 under the title “Process”. “Prologue” does the same in sculpture: another record of training, this time two years of studio work in three dimensions. The garden itself was founded in 1965 and opened to the public in 1974; the first roses in the Rosarium were planted in 1972.

Tickets and time

The garden ticket is enough: 16 PLN standard, 11 PLN reduced - this is our reading. The exhibition page says nothing about tickets, but the sculptures stand outdoors in the Rosarium, and the garden’s price list charges the higher 18 PLN and 15 PLN for adding the Kościuszko Manor House. A family ticket is 45 PLN, children under five get in free, and tickets can also be bought online.

There is no free day for everyone. The free Monday applies only to holders of the Lublin Senior Card, and UMCS alumni card holders enter the garden free; the rules are on the garden’s discounts page .

Hours change with the month. According to the table on the opening hours page , the garden opens daily at 9:00 and closes at 18:00 (6 PM) until the end of September and at 17:00 in October. The same page says tickets are sold until 17:30 and the exit gate closes at 18:30, without naming months. The manor hours listed there in text apply to the building, not to the Rosarium. In October, arrive by 16:00: the Rosarium is at the opposite end of the garden from the ticket office.

The sculptures alone take 10-15 minutes, about half an hour together with “Debuts” - our estimate, as the garden gives no visiting time. On a rainy day, everything here is out in the weather.

English on site: the exhibition page is in Polish only, and the garden says nothing about English labels, audio guides or tours. The works carry no text you need to read to follow them.

Who it is for: garden visitors curious about what sculpture looks like at the start of a career, and anyone weighing an art degree. Who can skip it: anyone who would travel out to the Sławinek district for this show alone; a handful of works in the Rosarium does not justify a separate trip.

What the press says

No English-language coverage was found, and nobody has reviewed the show, as of 27 September 2026. There are two news pieces in Polish, both relaying the organisers’ description:

• Student News (27 May 2026, unsigned): a preview of the three openings on 1 June in the “Master and Student” series, noting the honorary patronage of the UMCS rector - link .
• Lublin112 (18 July 2026, Leszek Mikrut): a summer photo report on the series’ three shows, which says that one of them stands right next to the manor and the other two in the Rosarium, and promises in its headline that you cannot miss the shows on a walk - link .

See also

• Debuts - reliefs and busts by eleven students, Gaczkowski among them, in the same Rosarium and on the same ticket.
• Reminiscences - sculpture by Piotr Zieleniak, who supervised both student shows; it stands by the manor, right next to the Rosarium.
• Young Movie - the third show in the “Master and Student” series, student animations you play from QR codes by the manor.
• Kościuszko Manor House - the manor above the Rosarium, with indoor shows on the combined ticket.

The exhibition text is on the exhibition page , and the garden map shows where the Rosarium is (both in Polish).

Museum profile: Kościuszko Manor House .