Muzeum Plakatu w Wilanowie

What to expect

The Poster Museum at Wilanów is the oldest poster museum in the world - opened in 1968, before anyone else thought a poster deserved its own institution. After five years closed for renovation, it reopened in March 2026, and in grand style: for the first time in its history, with a permanent exhibition.

The collection holds over 63,000 works - Polish and international, from the late 19th century to the present day. But the heart of the museum is the Polish School of Poster - one of the most important movements in the history of graphic design worldwide. Tomaszewski, Cieślewicz, Fangor, Młodożeniec, Świerzy, Starowieyski, Lenica - if those names mean nothing to you, this museum is an excellent place to get acquainted. And if they do, you’ll see originals that have lived only as reproductions in your imagination.

The current permanent exhibition - “Polish Poster. The Collection” - presents 240 works in six chronological chapters: from Young Poland art nouveau, through interwar artistic advertising, wartime posters (including a 1944 Warsaw Uprising poster), socialist realist propaganda, the golden age of the Polish School of Poster, to contemporary graphic design. Because of conservation requirements (paper doesn’t like light), exhibits rotate approximately every 3 months - each visit may show different works.

Tips

• Free Wednesdays. Free admission every Wednesday - worth it, since standard tickets are 22 PLN.
• Combine with Wilanów Palace. The museum stands 200 meters from the Royal Palace - poster museum + palace interiors + gardens makes a perfect half-day trip. Note: tickets are separate (different institutions, though both state-run).
• Exhibition rotation. Exhibits change every ~3 months for conservation. Check the website before your visit - there may be a brief closure between rotations.
• Audio guide available - in Polish. The permanent exhibition catalog is bilingual (Polish/English).
• Under 26? Tickets are just 1 PLN. Children under 7 free. Family ticket (2 adults + children under 18, max 6 people) - 38 PLN.
• Museum shop with postcards and exhibition catalogs - worth browsing.
• No elevator - ground floors of both pavilions are accessible, but mezzanines are stairs-only.

Getting there

By bus from the center: Lines 116, 180, E-2 from ul. Nowy Świat or 519 from Dworzec Centralny (Central Station). Get off at the last stop “Wilanów,” then walk 5 minutes along ul. Stanisława Kostki Potockiego toward the Palace.

Other bus lines: 117, 130, 139, 251, 317, 339.

By car: Head south from the center toward Wilanów. Parking available near the post office by the palace complex. Nearest accessible parking spot is approximately 350 meters from the museum, near St. Anne’s Church.

Travel time from center: About 30 minutes by bus.

Background

The Poster Museum was established on June 4, 1968, as the first museum in the world dedicated entirely to poster art. Its initial collection of 13,000 items - including about 500 WWII-era posters - came from the holdings of the National Museum in Warsaw, donated by director Stanisław Lorentz.

The building is a modernist exhibition pavilion built in the 1960s that preserves the facade of a 19th-century indoor riding school designed in 1848 by architect Franciszek Maria Lanci for the Wilanów Palace complex. It creates an interesting blend of two architectural periods.

In 1966 - two years before the museum opened - Warsaw launched the International Poster Biennale, the first event of its kind in the world. Since 1994, the Biennale has been held at the museum. Over more than half a century, it has attracted thousands of entries from around the globe and become one of the most prestigious graphic design competitions. The museum’s collection includes not only Polish masters but also works by Picasso, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Glaser, and Indiana.

After five years closed for a major renovation, the museum reopened on March 13, 2026. Its first-ever permanent exhibition - “Polish Poster. The Collection” - presents 240 works spanning 130 years of Polish poster history.