MUSEUMS
Jacek Malczewski Museum
The Jacek Malczewski Museum has one of the greatest collections of paintings of Jacek Malczewski in Poland.
This is the fourth largest collection of works of that Radom resident in Poland and it has been systematically increased. The painter is considered to be the most distinguished representative of Symbolism in the Polish painting.
The museum has also over 60 works of artists that were painted in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century: Wojciech Gerson, Maksymilian Gierymski, Olga Boznańska, Julian Fałat, Józef Mehoffer, Leon Wyczółkowski, Władysław Podkowiński, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Zofia Stryjeńska, and others.
In 1913, Priest John Wiśniewski, regionalist and collector, handed over his collection to the Polish Tourist Society, which was to organise the first museum in Radom. The plans of the association were stopped by the outbreak of the First World War. The collection of Priest Wiśniewski, which partially dispersed during the war, were contributed to the first museum institution in Radom in 1923. The museum changed its location several times and finally in 1976 it was moved to the building of a former school of Piarists of the 18th century. The old building is a “labyrinth” with many passes, staircases and nooks.
The youngest tourists will be attracted by the exhibition of nature, including in particular, the section with dioramas presenting the natural environment of the Radom land and models of dinosaurs. Visitors are surprised with the Naturalist’s Office of the 19th century with many exhibits of birds and mammals, which are presented in the form of an exhibition that dates 150 years back. While, the exhibition of Polish national parks is an excellent way to see differences between several most popular parks.
For enthusiasts of exoticism, there is an exhibition of non-European cultures. It offers over 100 exhibits from the Far East, Africa and Oceania.
Fiends of the medieval history can admire effects of archaeological works thanks to the exhibition entitled “Treasures and secrets of Piotrówka”. The exhibition includes, among others, elite graves of Radom inhabitants of the 11th century, ornaments, armament, everyday objects, and a treasury of medieval coins.
The museum collections come, among others, from donations. The family of philosopher Leszek Kołakowski donated a collection of mementoes of that famous resident of Radom. In turn, Professor Andrzej Pinno, heir of three significant Radom families, donated a collection of artistic and everyday objects, including paintings, furniture, tableware and numerous documents. The collection of the Pinno Family includes 1150 objects, which reflect the welfare of affluent bourgeois families, which developed the economic prosperity and cultural heritage of the town.
Visiting the town together with a master of painting? It is possible in Radom!
Radom Village Museum
In the suburbs of the town, on over 30 hectares, there are 80 former rural structures among greenery. These are mainly peasant cottages and farm buildings, manor houses, windmills, water mills, and a church. This is an open-air ethnographic museum, where you can move in time to the times of your grand grandmothers and grand grandfathers. Apart from the buildings, the museum presents over 16,000 of mobile objects, including a collection of agricultural vehicles and machines, beehives, fabrics, and interior furnishing.
The Radom Village Museum is an excellent place to feel the climate of a former village, walk among the plants, and get to know the hardships of everyday life of inhabitants of the Radom land near the borderland of Masovia and Lesser Poland. The institution organises many outdoor events where tourists can familiarise themselves with old folk habits and ceremonies and take part in traditional religious ceremonies, like the Palm Sunday, the Candlemas, and the Potato Festival. The ethnographic museum offers a historic staging of important events in the history of the Radom land.
The museum carries out wide educational activities. Museum lessons (not only for children) let the participants learn old calligraphy or how a bread is baked or traditional Christmas decorations are created. The “extraordinary everyday life” will let you move in time and feel the climate of a village of former days.
Spend a day in the Radom Village Museum to feel the folklore!
