Jan Gryboś "In the Rhythm of the Old Village" - Folk Sculpture Exhibition

A folk sculpture exhibition by Jan Gryboś, “In the Rhythm of the Old Village”, is on display at the Szymbark open-air museum (Skansen), a branch of the Karwacjan Manor Art Gallery in Gorlice.

Karwacjan Manor Art Gallery in Gorlice on the exhibition (translated from the museum’s Polish description; no English page for this exhibition was found on the museum’s site):

We invite you to the Szymbark open-air museum on 16 August at 15:00 for the opening of Jan Gryboś’s folk sculpture exhibition. The exhibition will be on display until 14 November 2026.

What to expect

The sculptures are shown outdoors, among the open-air museum’s relocated cottages, granaries and wooden church - the display sits inside a working ethnographic site, not a gallery. The opening took place on 16 August 2026 at 15:00. The Skansen’s price list has no separate ticket for exhibitions, so ordinary admission covers the show. That is our reading of the price list; the museum does not say it in so many words.

Context

Jan Gryboś comes from Gródek, a village near Gorlice. The museum itself frames him as a recently rediscovered artist: in 2024 the same institution ran a show at Szymbark titled “Jan Gryboś - an unknown folk artist from Gródek” (“Jan Gryboś - nieznany artysta ludowy z Gródka”); the current exhibition continues that discovery. His craft belongs to the Polish folk-sculpture tradition, which for centuries served mainly religious purposes: figures of Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints were placed in roadside shrines and household altars, carved in wood (soft wood such as linden for small figurines, harder wood for larger pieces) and painted in a limited palette. A visitor with no prior knowledge of Gryboś should read his work in that light rather than as secular or decorative carving.

Tickets and time

Admission to the Skansen is 16 PLN standard or 10 PLN reduced, and on our reading of the price list it covers the exhibition; Tuesdays are free at every branch of the museum. Organised groups of 10-25 people pay 10 PLN per person, plus 60 PLN for a guide. In October the open-air museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00-15:00 (9 AM to 3 PM). From November the hours stay the same, but it is closed on Sundays, as well as on 1 and 11 November; the last day of the show, 14 November, is a Saturday. English on site: the museum publishes no English page for this exhibition, and no English labelling is confirmed for the Skansen buildings - come prepared with a translation app if you do not read Polish. The grounds are demanding for wheelchairs and strollers, with unpaved paths, high thresholds and narrow doorways between buildings; guide dogs are permitted. Fifteen minutes covers the exhibition itself; budget two to three hours for the open-air museum as a whole.

Current prices and opening hours for every branch are on the museum’s tickets and opening hours page (in Polish).

Museum profile: Karwacjan Manor Art Gallery in Gorlice .