Warsaw University of Life Sciences Museum

What to expect

The SGGW Museum occupies 220 square metres on the first floor of the Main Library (Building 48, entrance C) on the Ursynów campus. It documents over 200 years of Poland’s oldest agricultural university and the fourth oldest in Europe.

The permanent exhibition “From Marymont to Ursynów” traces the institution’s history from the founding of the Agronomic Institute in Marymont on 23 September 1816 (initiated by Stanisław Staszic, housed in Queen Marysienka Sobieska’s palace), through every transformation - Puławy, Russification, the 1919 return to Warsaw, both World Wars - to the present-day 70-hectare Ursynów campus. The representative hall features a Rector’s Portrait Gallery.

The collection includes original 19th and 20th-century documents, historical herbarium cards, period furniture from professors’ offices, medals, diplomas, research apparatus, measuring instruments, and models of agricultural tools. One curious exhibit: a rector’s robe sewn from an American UNRRA military blanket - a symbol of the university’s post-war rebuilding.

Temporary exhibitions rotate regularly. “(Nie)ginace zawody” (Dying/Undying Crafts) with VR experiences (12 spherical films on traditional woodworking) was extended due to popular demand. “Cultural Thursdays” - meetings and concerts organised jointly with the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music - add a creative dimension.

The museum is part of the Warsaw Academic Heritage Trail, a network of 18 physical locations and 2 virtual university museums across the city. Formally established in 2006, opened in January 2008, and integrated into the Main Library structure on 1 January 2024.

Tips

• Monday-Friday 9:00-15:00. Entrance C, 1st floor of the Main Library. Groups should book by phone or email.
• Free entry for both individuals and groups.
• Guided tours last 30-45 minutes and are tailored to visitor interests.
• Museum Night (May) - the museum participates regularly. In 2025, the “SELFIE SGGW” exhibition was on show.
• Sign language interpretation available via the MIGAM service (linked from the museum website).
• The SGGW campus is worth a walk - 70 hectares of greenery with an arboretum and teaching buildings scattered through parkland.
• Accessibility: Building 48 (the Main Library) is barrier-free - the entrances are step-free, and the lift up to the museum on the 1st floor is at entrance B (per the SGGW accessibility declaration).

Getting there

Bus: Lines 148, 166, 193, 401 - Biblioteka SGGW stop, 4 minutes walk to the museum entrance.

Metro: Ursynów or Stokłosy (M1) - 15 minutes walk south through the campus. A longer walk, but pleasant through green surroundings.

By car: The SGGW campus has car parks. GPS address: Nowoursynowska 161.

Nearby museums

The SGGW Museum sits on a university campus away from the city centre, so there is no typical museum cluster nearby. On the campus itself, the Museum of Osteology (159 Nowoursynowska, next building) holds over 1,000 bone specimens including complete European Bison skeletons with documented genealogies from 1924 studbooks - visits by arrangement (knm@sggw.edu.pl). In the Ursynów district: the Museum of Ursynów (8 Barwna Street, 2.5 km away) features a recreation of writer Niemcewicz’s study and a room reconstructing a typical 1970s Ursynów apartment.