Ursynów Museum

What to expect

Note: the museum is closed. Since 1 July 2025 the main venue at ul. Barwna 8 has been shut for renovation. According to Ursynoteka’s announcement, the museum’s special collections (varsaviana, Niemcewicz editions, regional periodicals) were relocated during the renovation to the Scientific Reading Room (Czytelnia Naukowa XIV) at ul. Lachmana 5. Researchers wishing to consult these materials should contact the library in advance (czytelnia@ursynoteka.pl / +48 22 855 52 20 or muzeum@ursynoteka.pl / +48 22 649 07 25) to confirm access procedures. The description below reflects the exhibition as it stood before the closure.

The Ursynów Museum is the Regional Collections Department of the Niemcewicz Public Library, operating since 2014 at ul. Barwna 8 - right in the heart of Ursynów’s apartment blocks. It is not a conventional museum but rather a living memory room for the district, run with passion by librarian-local historians.

Two permanent exhibitions tell the story of Ursynów from two distant eras. “The Niemcewicz Study” is a recreation of the writer’s workspace from 1822-1831, when he lived in a manor house in Ursynów (then a farmstead on Warsaw’s southern outskirts). Period furniture, writing implements, and reproductions of paintings, engravings, maps and manuscripts recreate the atmosphere of a nobleman-writer’s study - the same man who wrote “Historical Songs” and “Memoirs of My Times.”

“The Alternatywy 4 Room” is a reconstruction of a typical prefabricated-block apartment from the era when the Ursynów estate was being built (from 1977). Furniture, household appliances and communist-era gadgets are complemented by memorabilia from Stanisław Bareja’s cult television series, whose characters lived on this very estate. The distance between Niemcewicz’s study and the prefab room is just a few steps - and two centuries.

The collections include Warsaw-related books, editions of Niemcewicz’s works, local periodicals (“Poludnia”, “Pasma”, “Passy”), press clippings, residents’ memoirs and works by Ursynów writers. The museum also digitises archival materials and is building a virtual Museum of Ursynów.

Tips

• Closed until further notice (renovation at ul. Barwna 8 since 1 July 2025). Special collections have been temporarily moved to the Scientific Reading Room (Czytelnia Naukowa XIV) at ul. Lachmana 5 - access by prior arrangement (czytelnia@ursynoteka.pl or phone +48 22 855 52 20 / +48 22 649 07 25).
• Pre-closure hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 14:00-19:00, Wednesday 11:00-15:00, Friday 10:00-16:00, closed weekends. These may change when it reopens.
• Free entry - it is a department of the public library.
• A visit takes 20-30 minutes. No reservation required.
• Museum Night (May) - the museum participates, organising walks around the district and presentations.
• Wi-Fi available, computer station with a Niemcewicz presentation, printer/scanner (small fee).
• Manager: Jacek Okulus. Contact: muzeum@ursynoteka.pl.
• Accessibility: the museum entrance is reached by 7 steps with no ramp and the building has no lift - which is why wheelchair, stroller and elevator are all marked unavailable. The accessibility declaration notes that wheelchair users can enter with staff assistance through the neighbouring Children’s Library No. 9, which has a ramp.

Getting there

Metro: Ursynów (M1) - 8 minutes walk east along ul. KEN and Barwna. Stokłosy (M1) - 10 minutes.

Bus: Lines 179, 192, 504 - Barwna or al. KEN/Surowieckiego stop, 3-5 minutes walk.

By car: Parking on ul. Barwna. Residential estate, spaces usually available.

Nearby museums

Ursynów is a residential district, not a museum cluster, but: SGGW Museum (161 Nowoursynowska Street, 2.5 km south - 200 years of Poland’s oldest agricultural university, VR exhibits, free entry) and the SGGW Museum of Osteology (159 Nowoursynowska - European Bison skeletons with documented genealogies, visits by arrangement). In the south of the district: the park and Natolin Palace (restricted access - seat of the European Centre Natolin).