The Parnassus of Warsaw. A Century of the Literary Award of the City of Warsaw

The exhibition was prepared to mark the centenary of the establishment of the Literary Award of the City of Warsaw, one of the most important literary distinctions in Poland. It presents the history of the award in 1926-1938 and in 1946, together with the profiles of the women and men writers who received it and their work.

Among the figures featured in the exhibition are Władysław Mickiewicz, Wacław Sieroszewski, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Artur Oppman, Wacław Berent, Władysław Orkan, Zdzisław Dębicki, Józef Weyssenhoff, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Szymon Askenazy, Pola Gojawiczyńska, Roman Kołoniecki, Maria Kuncewiczowa, Leopold Staff and Władysław Broniewski. The narrative places their writing in its historical and cultural context and underlines the importance of the award as an initiative that strengthened literary life in the twentieth century.

The form chosen for the exhibition offers a way into the literary and cultural world of interwar Poland. On display are manuscripts, prewar editions of books, personal mementoes, photographs and objects connected with the laureates from the collections of the Museum of Literature, as well as large-format enlargements and a colourised prewar film about Warsaw by Julien Bryan.