Praga Interiors

An exhibition about the historic interior details of Praga’s tenement houses, from 17 September 2026 to 21 March 2027. The opening is on 16 September 2026 at 6 p.m. Tickets: 10 PLN full price, 8 PLN reduced, 1 PLN on Thursdays.

The Praga Museum of Warsaw on the exhibition:

An exhibition about historic details worth saving. What lies behind the façades of Praga’s tenement houses? What flats do the richly decorated staircases lead to? What makes an interior keep its original character?

The exhibition “Praskie wnętrza” shows that the authenticity of historic flats is often decided by unnoticed elements of interior architecture: panelled floors, stucco work, ceramic tiles, joinery, fittings and tiled stoves. It is these that bear witness to former technologies, craftsmanship and the changing tastes of successive decades. Raising awareness of the value of the original fittings of historic flats and popularising earlier design are the ideas guiding Katarzyna Chudyńska-Szuchnik, the curator of the exhibition.

The details of flats were designed drawing on palace aesthetics and following the prevailing trends: from the historicist style inspired by classicism, neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque, through Art Nouveau and Art Deco, to early modernism. Many of them have survived to this day and can help tell the story of Warsaw’s heritage and make earlier craft and building technologies understood.

The exhibition grew out of many years of research by the curator Katarzyna Chudyńska-Szuchnik, carried out both in residential premises and in places connected with the history of Praga’s craft firms. Thanks to this, visitors will see not only original objects and archival material, but will also learn the stories of places they normally cannot enter.

Large-format photographs allow a look into flats where traces of successive stages of their use and alteration have survived, and one of the exhibits will be a 1960s bathtub moved straight from the kitchen of a flat at ul. Wileńska 13.

The exhibition will present collections and archives handed over by the successors and heirs of former Praga businesses: the Deseń Paper Stencil Works on ul. Ząbkowska and the Bednarczyk Wooden Floor Works from Kamionek.

What to expect

The exhibition is curated by Katarzyna Chudyńska-Szuchnik and designed by Anna Sarnowska.

It is accompanied by a publication devoted to floor panels from the collection of the Bednarczyk Wooden Floor Works, written by Jacek Turant, the last owner of the workshop, which operated until 2007. The book will be launched on the opening day, 16 September 2026 at 6 p.m., and in October a meeting with the author and the curator is planned, together with a demonstration of the restoration of original panels.

The museum also announces curatorial tours, guest tours with Piotr Stryczyński and Jerzy Majewski, walks and visits to historic flats and tenement houses, craft workshops, debates and meetings with residents, and educational activities at an interactive table.

Tickets and opening hours are on the museum’s website.

Museum profile: Praga Museum of Warsaw.