Tomek Sikora: To Sit in the Square...

In the open-air Pod Różą Gallery on the grounds of the Kuncewicz House (ul. Małachowskiego 19), the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny is showing Tomek Sikora’s photographs of the town’s market square. For years the square has gathered cultural events, markets and everyday town life. The museum publishes no English text on the show; the quotation below is our translation of its Polish description.

The Vistula Museum on the exhibition:

Although the photographs were taken 12 years ago, the market square still retains its unchanging atmosphere and charm, which Tomek Sikora captured with emotion, light and optimism. The exhibition is made available courtesy of the artist and Hotel Spichlerz.

What to expect

Tomek Sikora, born in 1948 into an artistic family, trained in Paris and worked as a photojournalist after returning to Poland. His work has been shown at exhibitions in Poland and abroad and has earned numerous creative awards. He now lives near Kazimierz Dolny and, as the museum reports, believes that a landscape should speak of emotions - hence the reflective, luminous character of the images on display.

This is a small display in the open air on the grounds of the Kuncewicz House, not a museum gallery room - fifteen minutes of unhurried looking is enough. The show has been open since 4 March 2026, and the museum’s list of exhibitions gives its end as “grudzień 2026 r.” (December 2026), with no day. The closing date of 31 December is the editors’ assumption; the museum gives no such date.

The museum states no ticket price for this show and does not say whether a ticket is needed at all. Its price list gives only the Kuncewicz House branch ticket (15 PLN standard, 10 PLN reduced, 40 PLN family) and does not say whether it covers the Pod Różą Gallery. The 10 PLN price for the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery applies to a different place, the main building at Rynek 19. If you are not visiting the villa, ask at the Kuncewicz House ticket desk whether you can see the open-air gallery without a ticket.

Context

Tomek Sikora took up photography seriously in Paris, where he went at twenty on a Kodak scholarship; back in Poland he spent a decade as a photojournalist for the weekly “Perspektywy”. From 1982 he lived in Australia, teaching photography at Victoria College in Melbourne and running his own advertising studio, before co-founding Galeria Bezdomna with Andrzej Świetlik in 2001 to promote independent photography. His work has earned the Złoty Wawrzyn Olimpijski (1980), the “Zasłużony dla Kultury Polskiej” honour (2007) and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2013); he now lives a few kilometres away in Męćmierz, near the market square he photographs.

Tickets and time

Hours: according to the museum’s notice of 1 October , all branches, the Kuncewicz House included, open 9:00-16:00 (9 AM to 4 PM) and are closed on Tuesdays. The winter season lasts until 31 March, so these hours cover the rest of the show’s run. The museum gives no separate hours for the open-air gallery; the editors assume the branch’s hours apply to it. The branch is closed on 1 and 11 November and on 24 and 25 December, and ticket desks stop selling half an hour before closing.

Free admission: for each month the museum names one day of the week on which entry is free throughout that month, and announces it on its visitor page by the last day of the month before. The rule applies to individual visitors; groups need a booking on those days. It covers permanent displays, the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery and separately ticketed temporary shows in the branches; the museum does not say whether it applies to this open-air show.

Worth it for: anyone who likes Kazimierz and landscape photography and is heading to the Kuncewicz House anyway - you can take the show in alongside the villa, without a separate trip. From the market square it is about ten minutes uphill. Skip if: you want a large, curated show with several rooms; this is a compact, open-air display, not that. English on site: the museum’s website has no separate English version (mnkd.pl/en/ returns a 404) and no English labels, audio guide or tours could be confirmed for this exhibition - budget for Polish-only text panels.

What the press says

Gość Niedzielny, Lublin edition (2 March 2026, byline “ag”): praises the photographs’ upbeat tone and quotes the artist saying he always hoped his work would be seen as something that brings people joy, not another record of hard times - positive coverage. Read it .

Updates

• 2026-10-21 - ticket information corrected: the 10 PLN price applies to the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery at Rynek 19, and the museum states no ticket for this show (source: the museum’s price list ).

Tickets, opening hours and current information are available on the Vistula Museum’s website .

Museum profile: Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny .