Private Museum of the Polish Devil “Przedpiekle”

What to expect

Closed since January 2023 - following the death of founder Wiktoryn Grąbczewski (1929-2023). This profile remains as documentation of a place that was one of the most unusual museums in Warsaw for over half a century.

Przedpiekle - a basement of a residential block at Bukowińska 26 in Mokotów. Inside: roughly 2,000 figurines, sculptures, paintings, prints, tapestries, ceramics, paper cuttings and everyday objects featuring the devil motif. Wood, clay, glass, iron, copper, sugar, pasta, plastic, string, wool, fur - every material imaginable. Among the artists: cartoonist Andrzej Mleczko and sculptor Władysław Hasior. In 1979, 1,784 exhibits were entered into the national heritage register.

Wiktoryn Grąbczewski - the “Devil’s Hetman” - had been collecting since the 1960s. A retired lieutenant colonel, graduate of Warsaw’s puppetry school, former performer at the Baj Theatre. His motto: “The devil is not as scary as people paint him.” Every figurine carried its own legend, its own story. The museum accepted a maximum of 10 visitors at a time, free of charge, by telephone appointment only. The overflow stood in the apartment building corridor - the neighbours accepted the devils.

The collection was the second largest in the world - after the Žmuidzinavičius Devils’ Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania (~3,000 items). It travelled to exhibitions in Slovakia, Italy, Sweden, Bulgaria and Lithuania. In 1984, a major exhibition of some 700 pieces was held jointly with the Castle Museum in Łęczyca - Grąbczewski’s hometown and the traditional seat of Boruta, Poland’s most famous devil.

Boruta - the most celebrated of Polish devils, a figure from Łęczyca legends. He evolved from a pre-Christian forest deity, recast as a devil after Christianisation. A nobleman in a kontusz (traditional robe), more prankster than demon - he haunted dams and forests, but his mischief was playful rather than harmful.

Tips

• Museum closed since January 2023. The collection was offered for sale in its entirety. The fate of the holdings after Grąbczewski’s death is not publicly known.
• In November 2024, a scientific conference honouring Grąbczewski was held at Łęczyca Town Hall. In 2025, the University of Lodz Press published a monograph: “Wiktoryn Grąbczewski - życie i twórczość.”
• Honorary Citizen of Łęczyca (2005/2006).

Getting there

Museum closed. Historic location: ul. Bukowińska 26 m. 3, Mokotów.

In the neighbourhood

Królikarnia Sculpture Museum (113a ul. Puławska, 1 km) - Polish sculpture in a neoclassical pavilion with gardens. PIG Geological Museum (4 ul. Rakowiecka, 700 m) - minerals, fossils and Earth’s history.