Close to People. Bronisław Piłsudski and the Beginnings of Ethnography in Zakopane

For the 160th anniversary of Bronisław Piłsudski’s birth, the Tatra Museum will show the objects the ethnographer collected below the Tatras before the First World War, in its main building at 10 Krupówki Street. The show will run from 7 November 2026 to 16 May 2027, with the opening the day before, on 6 November at 17:00. The museum publishes no English text on it; the translation of its Polish description below is ours.

Tatra Museum on the exhibition:

The exhibition, organised for the 160th anniversary of the eminent ethnographer’s birth, recalls this little-known research and museum work carried out below the Tatras in 1911-1914.

The core of the presentation is the ethnographic collection gathered by Piłsudski, shown in full for the first time, together with selected objects collected by his associates. This collection brings into focus, as through a lens, the ideas that guided his work: acting together to save what is vanishing for ever, getting to know and understand people closely, documenting past and present life in all its manifestations. The ethnographic artefacts have been arranged following the guidelines of Bronisław Piłsudski, author of Principles and Methods of Organising an Ethnographic Department, regarded as the first handbook of Polish museology, thereby drawing attention to his museum craft, his experience and even his vision. The ethnographic specimens are set against photographs from the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, which show their cultural context.

What to expect

This is a show about the beginnings of museum ethnography in Podhale, not a biography of the Marshal’s brother. At its core are the objects Piłsudski collected himself, joined by pieces from people who worked with him. According to the museum’s announcement, Piłsudski’s collection will be shown in full for the first time, with period photographs alongside the objects.

The photographs attached to the announcement give a foretaste. Among them is a konik, an ornament for a horse collar, from Podczerwone, collected in 1912-1913 by Bronisława Giżycka. There is a doll from Witów, given to the museum in 1912 by Maria Zychówna, and a spoon rack from Ciche, which Piłsudski collected in 1913. The museum has not said whether these very objects will be on display, but all of them belong to its collection.

The most interesting thing seems to be the idea behind the display itself. According to the museum, the objects have been arranged following the principles Piłsudski wrote down for the museum’s ethnographic department. So you will see not only a collection but also how a scholar of a hundred years ago wanted it shown.

The ground floor of the same building holds the permanent exhibition on the ethnography of Podhale, with a full-scale model of a cottage and costumes from the second half of the 19th century. Combine the two: the permanent exhibition provides the background, and the temporary show introduces one of the people who methodically built that collection.

Context

Bronisław Piłsudski was born on 2 November 1866 in Zułów, near Vilnius, the elder brother of Józef, later Marshal of Poland. For his part in preparations for an attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander III he was sentenced in 1887 to hard labour on Sakhalin. There he began to study the Ainu and other peoples of the island and to record their languages.

His recordings on phonograph wax cylinders are the only known recordings of the Ainu language from that period. They were played back only in the 1980s, thanks to a laser device built by the Japanese company Sony.

He first came to Zakopane in 1906, and in 1911 he founded the Ethnographic Section of the Tatra Society. He also started the publication of the Rocznik Podhalański (Podhale Yearbook), which the museum still publishes today. When the First World War broke out he left for Switzerland, and in 1918 he drowned in the Seine in Paris.

Tickets and time

The museum has not yet published a ticket price for this show. The main building’s price list as of 20 October 2026 names two other temporary shows separately and says nothing about this one. A ticket to the permanent and temporary exhibitions costs 34 PLN today, reduced 17 PLN, but the list does not say whether it will also cover this show. Before you go, check the museum’s price list or ask at the desk.

The opening is free. Admission to the opening on 6 November at 17:00 is free, as part of the museum’s promotion.

The free Thursday applies to the permanent exhibitions. That is how the price list puts it; the museum says nothing about temporary shows. So expect to need a ticket for this show on Thursdays too - that is our reading of the price list, not a statement by the museum.

No online tickets. The museum sells no tickets online and takes no bookings for unguided visits; entry is first come, first served. A guided tour costs 90 PLN and must be arranged in advance at gmachglowny@muzeumtatrzanskie.pl .

The main building is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00-18:00 (10 AM to 6 PM), last entry at 17:15, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The museum publishes a single timetable for the building, with no seasonal variation.

Allow about 45 minutes for the show alone and about two hours with the permanent exhibition; that is our estimate, as the museum gives neither the number of objects nor a visit time. Worth it if you are interested in Podhale folk culture at its roots or in the history of Polish museums. Worth it too if, so far, the name Piłsudski has meant only the Marshal to you. Families with young children who came for the animals will be better served by the Underground show in the same building. The museum does not say whether the labels will also be in English.

Events

The museum counts all the items below as part of the celebrations of the 160th anniversary of Bronisław Piłsudski’s birth; only the opening is tied directly to the show itself.

• 1.11.2026-28.02.2027 - outdoor exhibition “Bronisław Piłsudski. Etnograf nad etnografów” (Bronisław Piłsudski. The Ethnographer’s Ethnographer) on Krupówki Street, by the pond (the museum’s November programme, in Polish ).
• 4.11.2026, 13:00 - unveiling of a memorial plaque to Bronisław Piłsudski at the main building, 10 Krupówki Street; free admission.
• 5-7.11.2026, 9:00-17:00 - national academic conference “Bronisław Piłsudski. Etnografia - kolekcjonowanie - muzeum” (Ethnography - Collecting - Museum) at the Palace Museum, 7 Chałubińskiego Street; free admission (conference announcement, in Polish ).
• 6.11.2026, 17:00 - opening of the Close to People exhibition at the main building; free admission.
• 7.11.2026 - excursion around Podhale, “Śladami badań etnograficznych Bronisława Piłsudskiego” (In the Footsteps of Bronisław Piłsudski’s Ethnographic Research). The museum has not yet given the times or how to sign up (celebrations programme, in Polish ).

See also

• Tatra Museum profile - the permanent exhibition in the same building, with its ethnographic ground floor, the model cottage and the model of the Dom pod Jedlami villa, plus hours, prices and directions.
• Little Farmers. Childhood Below the Tatras - archive photographs of children from villages below the Tatras at the manor house in Łopuszna, a branch of the same museum: the same culture seen through photography.
• Our Legacy. 150 Years of the Zakopane Woodcarving School - at the Oksza villa until 3 January 2027: the story of the school the Tatra Society opened in 1876. Piłsudski later founded his section under the same society.
• Orava Ethnographic Park - the open-air museum in Zubrzyca Górna; it was Piłsudski who brought Orava within the Tatra Museum’s field of interest.

Museum profile: Tatra Museum in Zakopane .