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.

What to expect

This is a show for reading, not for strolling past. Fifteen prize-winners, fifteen life stories, told through manuscripts, prewar first editions and personal belongings from the museum’s own collection. The museum does not say how many rooms or objects there are, so do not plan it as a ten-minute stop.

Two things lift it above a case of old books. One is Julien Bryan’s prewar film of Warsaw, shown in colourised form: the American documentary maker filmed the city in the 1930s, and here it is the backdrop to the writers who lived in it. The other is the large-format photographic enlargements. A selection of period newspaper cuttings on the arguments over the jury’s choices is printed in the exhibition catalogue.

Curators: Grażyna Ryfka and Martyna Replin-Bala. The exhibition is under the honorary patronage of the Marshal of the Masovian Voivodeship, the regional government that co-funds the museum.

If you want something to take home, the museum shop sells a bilingual Polish-English catalogue: 221 pages, reprints of prewar press, an essay by the museum’s director Beata Michalec and an article by the late literary historian Jan Tomkowski, ISBN 978-83-980342-2-7. Online price: 40 PLN, reduced from 80 PLN (checked 13 September 2026). For a non-Polish reader it is the most useful thing here.

Context

The Literary Award of the City of Warsaw was first given in 1926, to Władysław Mickiewicz, the eldest son of Adam Mickiewicz, Poland’s national poet and the museum’s patron. It was awarded every year until the Second World War, the last time in 1938 to the poet Leopold Staff.

The museum notes that Kraków, Poznań, Łódź, Sosnowiec and Lwów (today Lviv in Ukraine) all had municipal literary prizes between the wars, but none matched Warsaw’s for prestige or money. After 1945 it was given irregularly under changing names, and the city council re-established it in 2008; it now runs in six categories.

Tickets and time

• Closing date: according to the museum’s monthly programme and its catalogue, the exhibition runs until 18 October 2026.
• Ticket to the main building: 20 PLN regular, 10 PLN reduced; groups of more than 10 pay 8 PLN each, Large Family Card (Karta Dużej Rodziny) holders 8 PLN. The price list names no separate ticket for temporary exhibitions.
• Free on Sundays: the museum’s price list says entry to the main building is free on Sunday. The last day of the show, 18 October, is a Sunday.
• Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00-17:00 (10 AM - 5 PM), Thursday 12:00-20:00 (noon - 8 PM), closed Mondays. Last entry one hour before closing.
• Where: Rynek Starego Miasta 20, on the Old Town Market Square, a short walk from the Royal Castle.
• Guided tour: 50 PLN for groups and individual visitors, per the museum’s price list; the museum does not say in which languages.
• English on site: the museum does not state whether the exhibition labels are in English. The catalogue is bilingual.

Who it is for: readers of Polish literature, students of the interwar period, and anyone who already knows a few of the names, such as Boy-Żeleński, Kuncewiczowa or Broniewski. If you do not read Polish and have never heard of these writers, the permanent Mickiewicz galleries will give you more for the same ticket. Families with small children should skip this one.

Pair it with the exhibition on Pola Gojawiczyńska, which opened the same day in the same building, and come on a Thursday afternoon or a free Sunday.

Events

• 17.09.2026 (Thursday), 18:00 - lecture by historian Ewa Danowska on Józef Weyssenhoff, the 1932 laureate and the subject of her biography, in Polish, free admission (September programme): details

What the press says

No English-language coverage and no critical review found so far; the Polish coverage consists of previews.

• TVP Polonia (01.04.2026, ASR): the Polish public broadcaster’s channel for Poles abroad, a media patron of the show, previewed it as a survey of the 1926-1938 laureates through manuscripts, first editions and mementoes - article, in Polish
• Booklips.pl (20.04.2026, editorial team): the book news site covered the opening and added the story of how Warsaw’s councillors created the prize in 1926 and how it returned in 2008 - article, in Polish

Updates

• 2026-09-13 - the museum gives a closing date of 18 October 2026 (source: September programme); the exhibition page itself still names no end date.

See also

• “Next Door to Pola Gojawiczyńska” - a separate show on one of the laureates, opened together with this one; the museum’s programme lists it until 31 December 2026.
• “I Am a Political Animal. Jerzy Giedroyc and Kultura 1947-2000” - the other temporary show in the building, on Jerzy Giedroyc and Kultura, the Paris-based émigré monthly that published Polish writers banned at home.
• Museum of Literature - the permanent galleries on Adam Mickiewicz and Maria Konopnicka, opening hours and how to get there.