Inscribed in Time. Jubilee Exhibition for the Museum's 100th Anniversary

The Zamość Museum marks its centenary with an exhibition that sums up a hundred years of collecting and protecting its holdings, open from 20 June 2026 until January 2027.

The Zamość Museum on the exhibition (our translation; the museum has no English version of this page):

The exhibition presents an exceptional account of the Museum’s history in Zamość and its most valuable collections, gathered since 1926. […] The jubilee exhibition “Inscribed in Time” is not only a summary of a hundred years of the Zamość Museum’s activity, but also an opportunity to reflect on the importance of protecting cultural heritage and on the role of museums in the contemporary world.

What to expect

The exhibition is divided into five thematic sections tracing the museum’s development from its founding to its present-day heritage-protection work. Visitors will see objects from all the museum’s major departments - archaeology, ethnography, natural history, old prints, fine art, decorative crafts, numismatics, militaria and historical photography. Well-known pieces are shown alongside rarely displayed items, supplemented by archival photographs, documents and multimedia stations. The exhibition was co-funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and its script was written by a nine-person team led by curator Kinga Kołodziejczyk.

The regional news site roztocze.net, which reported from the exhibition in July, singles out several objects on show: the town charter of Zamość issued by King Stephen Báthory, the painting that was the first entry in the museum’s inventory books, a hoard of bronze ornaments from Śniatycze, and a bear named Misia Basia. The museum’s own pages publish no such list of highlights.

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

Context

The Zamość Museum was founded on 17 September 1926 by Zygmunt Klukowski, a physician and social activist from the nearby town of Szczebrzeszyn, making it the oldest museum still operating in Zamość. This jubilee show is the museum’s attempt to tell that century as one story - from the collection’s modest beginnings, through its survival in the Armenian townhouses during the German occupation, to the institution’s present role guarding Zamość’s Renaissance heritage. If you already know the museum’s permanent galleries, this is the same history told from the institution’s own point of view rather than the region’s.

Tickets and time

Admission to the jubilee exhibition is free - a different rule from the museum’s permanent galleries, where a standard ticket costs 23 PLN and a reduced one 15 PLN. No timed-entry system was found, so arriving within regular opening hours is enough. Budget 30-45 minutes for the jubilee show on its own, less than the 90 minutes worth setting aside for all four permanent exhibitions together. Best for: anyone who already knows Zamość and wants to see how the museum tells its own story; visitors chasing the region’s archaeology or folk art should head straight for the permanent galleries instead. English on site: the museum’s pages say nothing about English labels or an audio guide for this show, and its visitor page offers guided tours only in Polish (“w języku polskim”), at 70 PLN, booked on +48 883 375 564.

The museum gives the closing date only as a month: the exhibition page says “June 2026 - January 2027” and the museum’s 2026 calendar says “until January 2027”. We list 31 January 2027 as the closing date. If you plan to come in the second half of January, check the museum’s website first to make sure the show is still open.

Events

The museum’s calendar lists no events at the exhibition itself. It does count the “Obrazy Przeszłości” (“Images of the Past”) lecture series as part of its centenary programme; the lectures take place in a different building, in the display on the history of the Zamość Academy and its printing house at 8 Akademicka Street (ground floor). Each lecture lasts about 60 minutes and admission is 6 PLN (reduced ticket).

• 10 November 2026, 11:00 - “Ignacy Daszyński and Maciej Rataj - Co-Founders of Reborn Poland”, given by Dr Jacek Feduszka - details
• 27 October 2026, 11:00 - “Monumentum in Collegium Zamoscensis - Biographical Sources”, given by Dr Jacek Feduszka - details
• 6 October 2026, 11:00 - “Artistic Patronage of the Zamoyski Family, 17th-18th Centuries”, given by Kamila Zubańska - details

What the press says

Regional press has mostly covered the two-day centenary programme; there is one report on the exhibition itself. roztocze.net (26 July 2026, Małgorzata Sobczuk): a report from the exhibition with a photo gallery, naming the most valuable objects on show, entirely positive in tone - link . Dziennik Wschodni (8 September 2026, Kamil Pomorski): the academic conference and free open day on 18-19 September as the closing act of the jubilee year - link . Kronika Tygodnia (9 September 2026, Leszek Wójtowicz): the same anniversary programme, entirely positive in tone - link . No critical review of the exhibition - an assessment of its choice of objects or curatorial narrative - turned up in the press searched.

Updates

• 2026-09-23 - checked on the museum’s website: the exhibition page gives “June 2026 - January 2027” and the 2026 calendar “from 20 June 2026 until January 2027”. The museum names no closing day, so we list 31 January 2027 as the end date. Admission is still free. Added three upcoming centenary lectures and the roztocze.net report of 26 July 2026.

See also

• Zamość Museum profile - the same institution’s permanent exhibitions, including “Zamość, the Zamoyski Family, the Zamość Entail”, which shares many objects with the jubilee show.
• In the Glow of the Uniform - Officers’ Ball Traditions in the Interwar Years - an exhibition at the Arsenal Museum of Fortifications and Arms, the same museum’s branch at 2 Zamkowa Street, open from 2 October 2026 to 14 March 2027.
• Firearms of the Second Polish Republic and Their Designers - the other current show at the Arsenal, until 14 February 2027, worth adding if the militaria in the jubilee show caught your interest.

Museum profile: Zamość Museum .