Address: ul. Dziekania 1, 00-279 Warszawa

Phone: 22 621 34 14

Email: muzeum@maw.art.pl

Website: https://maw.art.pl/

Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00-18:00, Saturday-Sunday 12:00-16:00. Monday closed.

Tickets: 160 PLN / 120 PLN (reduced)

Visit duration: ~90 min

Accessibility:

Wheelchair: Yes
Stroller: Yes
Elevator: Yes

Audio guide: Available

For families:

Recommended age: 10+
Stroller access: Yes

Location

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What to expect

Dziekania 1, the only building on this lane - the Dean’s Palace, squeezed between the Royal Castle and St. John’s Cathedral. Two minutes from the Old Town Market Square, two from the Castle. The location is absurdly good, yet most tourists walk past without knowing that inside lies one of the most interesting sacred art museums in Poland.

Entrance to the Dean's Palace at 1 Dziekania Street - the museum's name plaque above the arched portal. Photo: Artinpl, CC0.

Over 20,000 exhibits across three floors, approximately 1,200 square metres. The entire collection was built exclusively through donations and deposits - the museum has never purchased a work. And yet they have Albrecht Durer woodcuts (1498-1511), Francesco Bassano’s “Adoration of the Shepherds” (1575), works by Matejko, Wyspianski, Malczewski, Hofman. Emigre classics: Czapski, Lebenstein, Kossowski. And a surprise: 27 paintings by Zdzisław Beksiński from the Dmochowski collection - surrealist visions in a church museum, a contrast that works.

The contemporary art gallery - surrealist religious canvases alongside traditional crucifixion scenes. Photo: Artinpl, CC0.

The collection divides into “Sacrum” (liturgical vestments, goldsmithing, religious sculpture, sacred painting) and “Profanum” (clocks, furniture, portraits, decorative objects). A separate room dedicated to Blessed Stefan Wyszyński - memorabilia of the Primate of the Millennium. Independent art from the 1980s - works from the martial law era. Collections from the former Camaldolese monastery at Bielany.

The sacred sculpture hall in the palace's vaulted cellar - Gothic Madonna and Child figures, candlesticks, a painted banner. Photo: Artinpl, CC0.

Ground-floor gallery - chalices and liturgical vessels in display cases, bishop portraits, a chair beneath an eagle crest. Photo: Boston9 (Adrian Grycuk), CC BY-SA 4.0.

The building itself is a story. Rectory of St. John’s Church since 1339. Burned in 1607, rebuilt in 1610. Only fragments of ground floor walls survived the Warsaw Uprising. Reconstructed in 1966-1968 by Stanisław Marzynski - but note: the current front facade reproduces the pre-war rear elevation, so the building effectively faces backwards from its historical orientation.

Tips

Tuesday-Friday 12:00-18:00, Saturday-Sunday 12:00-16:00. Monday closed.
Normal ticket 25 PLN (temporary exhibition only), 35 PLN with Beksiński + permanent exhibition, 38 PLN including cathedral crypt. Reduced 20-28 PLN. Family ticket from 60 PLN.
Warsaw Pass accepted - access to all exhibitions + crypt + priority queue.
Building has lift and wheelchair ramp - adapted for visitors with disabilities.
Guided tours: 200 PLN (Polish), 300 PLN (English/Italian/French/Ukrainian), approximately 90 minutes.
Daily Chopin concerts at 18:30 - Kawai concert grand piano, approximately 80 seats, 50 PLN. External organiser (chopinconcerts.pl), but held in the museum halls.

Getting there

Bus: Stare Miasto 01/02 stop on al. Solidarności - lines 175, 128, 131, 178, 503, 507 and others. Plac Zamkowy stop nearby.

Tram: Al. Solidarności / Trasa W-Z - lines 13, 23, 26.

Metro: Ratusz Arsenał (M1) - 10-12 minutes walk. Nowy Świat-Uniwersytet (M2) - 15 minutes.

The Old Town is a pedestrian zone - the last stretch is always on foot.

In the neighbourhood

Old Town museums: Royal Castle (4 Plac Zamkowy, directly adjacent - royal residence), Museum of Warsaw (28-42 Old Town Market Square, 200 m - city history), [St. John’s Cathedral crypt](accessible with combined MAW ticket). Further: Museum of Literature (20 Old Town Market Square, 200 m).