Our Legacy. 150 Years since the Founding of the Woodcarving School in Zakopane

The school that trained Jan Szczepkowski, Antoni Kenar and Władysław Hasior turns 150, and the Tatra Museum marks it with the first monographic exhibition of its work. It runs from 20 June to 15 November 2026 at the Art Gallery in Villa Oksza, 25 Zamoyskiego Street, Zakopane. The English title is the museum’s own; the words below are our translation of its Polish web page.

Tatra Museum on the exhibition:

From a village school to one of the most important institutions shaping Polish art, craft, design and architecture - “Our Legacy”, prepared for the 150th anniversary of the Woodcarving School in Zakopane, is a story of success and dedication.

Following its history, we will see both well-known works and objects leaving museum storerooms and private collections for the first time. One of the discoveries will be a remarkable altar made by the school’s pupils in 1893 to a design by its first director, Franciszek Neužil.

What to expect

The display is broadly chronological. It opens with the agreement of 6 June 1876, under which a local woodcarver, Maciej Marduła, undertook to teach woodcarving to the Highlanders of the Tatra region for five hours a day. It ends in the present. The curator deliberately breaks the timeline by placing post-war pieces next to much older ones, so the continuity of the craft shows. The title borrows that of Konstanty Gordon’s 1958 documentary film about the school, according to the museum’s free exhibition guide.

The objects come from thirteen institutions, the museum itself among them, alongside the National Museum in Warsaw, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art and the Beskyd Museum in Frýdek-Místek, plus six private collections. Five pieces from the guide worth looking out for:

• The altar from Dr Chramiec’s hydrotherapy chapel - made at the school in 1893 to Franciszek Neužil’s design, with figures of Christ and the twelve apostles modelled by Józef Galleth.
• Jan Szczepkowski’s replica of his Nativity altarpiece (c. 1925) - the artist’s own copy of the work that won the Grand Prix in Paris, lent by the National Museum in Warsaw.
• Stanisław Stawowy’s “Female Dancer” (c. 1925) - the Paris critic Georges Ch. Raymond bought a copy and called it the best work in the Zakopane display.
• Jan Zapotoczny’s silver medallion with the head of Christ - from a private collection, on public view for the first time.
• Antoni Kenar’s “Femininity” (1956) - a polychrome carved figure that is also a vessel, shown at the Venice Biennale that year.

The villa is a reason to come in its own right: Stanisław Witkiewicz, father of the Zakopane Style, designed it in 1894-1895 and highland carpenters built it. Allow an hour, or 90 minutes if you want to read the guide as you go - our estimate, as the museum gives none. The opening took place on 19 June; the curator’s tours on 8 August and 19 September have already happened, and further dates appear in the museum’s monthly events calendar.

Context

The Tatra Society opened the school in 1876. Once the Austrian state took it over, it was renamed the Imperial-Royal Vocational School of the Wood Industry in 1891, and its first director was the Czech Franciszek Neužil. Stanisław Witkiewicz attacked its early directors for teaching Tyrolean models, yet was happy to hire its graduates. After Karol Stryjeński reformed the school in 1922, it won three awards at the 1925 Paris Exhibition of Decorative Arts. In 1948 it split in two: the sculpture department became the art school that has carried Antoni Kenar’s name since 1959, while the old building on Krupówki now houses the town’s construction school.

Tickets and time

Admission to Villa Oksza is 24 PLN, reduced 12 PLN. It is a separate branch with its own price list. The weekly combined ticket (69 PLN, reduced 34 PLN) is valid at every open branch of the Tatra Museum, Oksza included. At full prices it pays off only if, within the week, you add the main building (34 PLN with its temporary shows) and one more branch whose ticket costs 12 PLN or more. Villa Koliba and the Władysław Hasior Gallery both qualify. Large Family Card holders pay 5 PLN each, and residents of nine Podhale municipalities, Zakopane and Nowy Targ among them, pay 1 PLN.

Villa Oksza currently has no free-admission day. The free Thursday at other branches covers permanent displays only, and Oksza is showing nothing but this temporary exhibition - the museum says so plainly on its hours and prices page .

Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 9:00-17:00 (9 AM to 5 PM), Friday and Saturday 11:00-19:00, closed on Mondays; last entry half an hour before closing. The museum gives no separate seasonal hours. Unlike the main building, Oksza is open on Tuesdays, which makes it a good choice for that day.

An audio guide costs 5 PLN and a guided tour 69 PLN; the simplest way to book a tour is to contact the branch (oksza@muzeumtatrzanskie.pl , +48 692 029 817). There is parking for visitors at the villa. The museum sells a printed exhibition catalogue for 32 PLN and offers the bilingual guide as a free download on the exhibition page.

English on site: the 76-page exhibition guide is fully bilingual, Polish and English, and free to download. The museum does not say whether the wall labels are in English or which languages the audio guide offers, so download the guide before you go.

Worth it for anyone curious about the Zakopane Style, Polish Art Deco or post-war Polish design, and for alumni of either Zakopane school. If you came only for the mountains and have no interest in carving or craft, skip the exhibition, but walk past Witkiewicz’s villa anyway.

Events

• 16-17 October 2026, 11:00-19:00 - “Pawilon Polski 1925 VR” (Polish Pavilion 1925 VR), in the outdoor tent at the Villa Oksza gallery, an event accompanying the exhibition, free admission. The museum gives no further description; the name suggests a virtual reality show - October calendar, in Polish .

What the press says

Przewodnik Katolicki (1 July 2026, Natalia Budzyńska): a long piece on the art school’s 150 years sends readers to Villa Oksza, where work linked to the school has been gathered. It warns against treating the show as a local curiosity - article, in Polish .

podhale24.pl (22 July 2026): a round-up of the Tatra Museum’s summer exhibitions lists “Our Legacy” as the anniversary show prepared with both schools, without judging the display - article, in Polish .

See also

• Tatra Museum profile - the main building on Krupówki, built to Witkiewicz’s sketches, with the permanent display on Podhale culture. Right next door, at Krupówki 8, stands the school building that now houses the construction school.
• Jan Gryboś “In the Rhythm of the Old Village” - folk sculpture by a carver from Gródek near Gorlice, until 14 November 2026; a good counterpoint to school-trained carving.
• Podhale Museum in Nowy Targ - Podhale crafts in a town museum, from the joiner’s workshop to Edward Sutor’s sculptures.

Museum profile: Tatra Museum .