SUBLIME - Reconstructed Women's Dress from the 18th to the Early 20th Century

Women’s dress from three centuries, recreated by the Nomina Rosae workshop, has been on show in the Czartoryski palace in Puławy since 8 May 2026. The museum gives no closing date. It publishes no English text for the show; the subtitle above is ours, and so is the translation of the museum’s Polish text below.

Czartoryski Museum in Puławy on the exhibition:

under the name “SUBLIME” lies a remarkable collection of reconstructions of women’s dress from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and from the early 20th century, made with masterly precision by Atelier Nomina Rosae. The dresses have settled into the interiors of the Czartoryski palace so naturally, as if they had always been part of the history of Puławy.

The exhibition was made possible by the patronage of Mr Maciej Radziwiłł and the Trzy Trąby Foundation.

What to expect

This is a show of copies, not heritage objects: every dress is a modern reconstruction of a historical cut, made today. The museum does not say how many outfits it shows or what models the individual pieces are based on. The show’s page names two periods, the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and the early 20th century; the poster is broader: from the 18th to the early 20th century.

The opening took place in the Gothic Hall on the first floor of the palace. The museum does not say plainly whether all the outfits stand in that room today or are also spread across other rooms - ask at the ticket desk. The palace has no lift: a wide staircase with chairs on the landings leads to the upper floors.

Allow about half an hour for the show itself and 60-90 minutes for the whole palace. Do not travel to Puławy for it alone, but if you are visiting the palace anyway, do not skip it: the ticket covers it.

The same building holds other temporary shows with no published closing dates. One is “Między sztuką a sercem” (Between Art and Heart), watercolours about Princess Izabela; the other is “Na wentach i w salonach” (At Charity Bazaars and in Salons) in the Knights’ Hall. The latter includes porcelain from the collection of Maciej Radziwiłł, who is also the patron of SUBLIME.

Context

The local news site LPU24 credits the outfits to the Nomina Rosae Foundation, which works in historical reconstruction and traditional crafts; the museum calls the maker an “Atelier”. According to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), in 2019 the foundation’s workshop made the dresses for “Moda nieborowskich dam” (Fashion of the Ladies of Nieborów) at the Nieborów and Arkadia Museum. It recreated them from portraits and from scraps of original fabric.

Between the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and the early 20th century the female silhouette changed several times. In the late 18th century came the dress with its waist just below the bust and a loose skirt without stiffened petticoats. Then came the bell-shaped crinoline, fashionable until about 1868, followed by the bustle, which pushed out the back of the dress. The museum does not say whether the show covers these intermediate stages.

The turn of the 18th and 19th centuries was also the golden age of Puławy. In 1801 Princess Izabela Czartoryska opened the Temple of the Sibyl in the park, the first Polish museum of a national character. The oldest cuts in the show therefore come from the years when this residence was one of the centres of Polish culture.

Tickets and time

There is no separate ticket for the show: the price list names no charge for temporary exhibitions, and the standard ticket - 30 PLN full price, 22 PLN reduced - covers the palace displays. A family ticket (two adults and children under 16) is 70 PLN; Large Family Card holders pay 15 PLN. Tickets are sold only at the desk in the Hall of Tradition on the ground floor; cash, card and BLIK are accepted.

Admission is free on Mondays, and the palace opens as usual; on Mondays only the park pavilions are closed. From October to March the museum opens daily 8:00-16:00 (8 AM to 4 PM), last tickets 15:30; from April to September 9:00-17:00, last tickets 16:15 (opening hours ). The museum is closed on, among other days, 1 and 11 November and 24, 25, 26 and 31 December.

From June to September, Tuesday to Sunday, the same ticket also covers the Temple of the Sibyl, the Gothic House and the Alexandrian House. From October to May it admits you to the palace only; the park pavilions are closed from 1 October to 31 March.

The show will mean most to people interested in historical dressmaking, to historical re-enactors and to anyone curious how women dressed in Princess Izabela’s time. If you are looking for original period textiles, you will not find them here. The show has run since May with no announced end, so before a trip made for its sake, phone +48 81 888 44 11.

English on site: the museum’s website has no English text of its own (only an automatic translation widget) and states no English labels, audio guide or English-language tours for this show. The dresses need no translation; any wall texts will be in Polish.

What the press says

Two local reports, informative and favourable; no critical review was found.

LPU24 (11 May 2026, Paweł Skibniewski): a post-opening report that credits the outfits to the Nomina Rosae Foundation and recommends the show to lovers of fashion history and old crafts - article, in Polish .

Puławy Town Hall (18 May 2026): a Night of Museums round-up in which SUBLIME is one of the shows visitors saw in the palace that evening - notice, in Polish .

See also

• Czartoryski Museum in Puławy profile - palace, park, pavilions, hours, prices and tips for a full day in Puławy.
• Between Art and Heart - watercolours about Princess Izabela in the same palace, on the same ticket.
• In the Glow of the Uniform - uniforms, evening dresses and interwar officers’ ball etiquette at the Zamość Museum, a good match if dress as a sign of its era interests you.

Museum profile: Czartoryski Museum in Puławy .