Wiesław Stanisławski. In the Circle of Illusions (A Sketch for a Portrait of a Mountaineer)

The Tatra Museum remembers a climber who, within a handful of seasons, climbed the biggest walls in the Tatras and died in the Tatras before he turned 24. The exhibition stands in the open air, beside the building that will become the Museum of Mountaineering and Skiing at Plac Niepodległości 6 in Zakopane, from 16 May to 31 October 2026. The museum’s words below are our translation of its Polish page; it publishes no English version of this text.

Tatra Museum on the exhibition:

The exhibition presents Wiesław Stanisławski (1909-1933), one of the finest Tatra climbers of that period. It took Stanisławski three years to become a thoroughbred mountaineer: the years 1925-27. The process began with his first contact with the Tatras, then his first time tied into a rope with a partner, stepping onto the rock and choosing a route. Its culmination came in 1928-1933, five seasons in which Stanisławski became one of the best climbers of that generation and overcame, in impressive style, the greatest rock faces of the Tatras. What followed was the further growth of his passion for the mountains and his climbing skill, right up to his tragic death. The whole story spans eight years of his life in the Tatras.

What to expect

This is an outdoor show: you see it outside, next to a building, not in a gallery. The listed house at Plac Niepodległości 6, empty until recently, is being converted by the Tatra Museum, with European Union co-funding, into a new branch devoted to mountaineering and skiing; the museum itself calls it a “museum in the making”. The museum’s main building at Krupówki 10 is just over 400 metres away as the crow flies, a few minutes on foot.

The museum promises previously unknown photographs of Stanisławski, family and climbing pictures and his mountain notes. It names no equipment or other objects, so expect a portrait built from photographs and writing. The title comes from Stanisławski’s own essay on death in the mountains, which experts rate as his best piece. The curator writes that the manuscript, from the collection of Witold Henryk and Zofia Paryski, was written in grey pencil in one go, with almost no corrections.

The curator, Wojciech Szatkowski, has written a twelve-page essay that the museum offers as a free download, in Polish and in English: “A sketch for a portrait of a mountaineer” (PDF) . It carries what no outdoor display can hold: the list of his 106 climbs published in the journal “Taternik” in 1933, his rivalry with Wincenty Birkenmajer, the death of his climbing partner Lida Skotnicówna, and the gear he borrowed from the club because, as a student, he had little money.

The exhibition opened on 16 May 2026 at 16:00 as part of the Night of Museums. The museum noted that plenty of mountaineering enthusiasts came despite the rain.

Context

The Tatras are the highest range of the Carpathians, split between Poland and Slovakia, and “taternik” is the Polish word for a climber on their rock and ice. Stanisławski, born in Lublin in 1909 and raised in Warsaw, first came in 1925; in 1930, on the Mnich, he was the first in the Tatras to stand in slings hung from pitons, and in 1932 he climbed the north face of Mały Kieżmarski Szczyt, the biggest wall in the range, on the Slovak side. He and Witold Wojnar died on 4 August 1933 attempting the west face of Kościółek in the Batyżowiecka valley; a plaque at the Symbolic Cemetery of Tatra Victims below Osterwa in Slovakia remembers them both.

Tickets and time

The museum publishes no price and no viewing hours for this exhibition. Its price list and opening hours cover the main building and the branches, but the site at Plac Niepodległości 6 is not on it. Free admission was announced only for the opening. That you can see an open-air display at any time and for free is our assumption, not the museum’s statement; to be sure, call the main building on +48 18 201 29 36.

Allow 20-30 minutes; that is our estimate, as the museum gives no visiting time. You can read the curator’s English essay beforehand, for instance on the two-hour train ride from Kraków.

Pair it with the main building at Krupówki 10, open Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 (10 AM to 6 PM), last entry 17:15. The price list names Thursday as the free day for the permanent exhibitions there; it says nothing about temporary shows on that day. This exhibition runs until 31 October, so in autumn pick a dry day.

Worth it for climbers, readers of mountain literature and anyone who has hiked in the High Tatras and knows names like Zamarła Turnia or Mały Kieżmarski Szczyt. If the history of Tatra climbing means nothing to you, skip it without regret and start instead with the permanent exhibition in the main building.

English on site: the museum says nothing about English captions at the display itself. Its one English resource is the curator’s essay in PDF, so download it before you go.

See also

• Tatra Museum profile - the main building at Krupówki 10, prices, hours and the permanent exhibition on the Podhale region, a few minutes’ walk from this show.
• Tatra National Park Nature Education Centre - the Tatras told by the national park itself, the same ground Stanisławski climbed, seen through its geology and wildlife.

Museum profile: Tatra Museum in Zakopane .