The Power of Stories
The Power of Stories
From the old chronicle to the modern museum
The exhibition posed one of the most important questions about Polish identity: how has the history of Poland been told over the centuries, and how have these stories shaped the nation's collective memory? Six modules guided visitors through successive eras and carriers of memory — from medieval chronicles that built a community around the ruler, through noble coats of arms, grand history painting, national ceremonies and holidays, and Sienkiewicz's novels, all the way to cinema, contemporary museums, and the internet. Each stage revealed the tension between reliable history and legend, between what really happened and what we wanted to believe.
The exhibits included a 15th-century manuscript of the Chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek, a breviary containing the text of “Gaude, Mater Polonia” from 1502, canvases by Jan Matejko and Józef Brandt, paintings by the Brotherhood of St. Luke from the 1939 World's Fair, as well as the ceremonial hammer and trowel used during the construction of the Temple of Divine Providence in 1792.
Curators of the exhibition: Prof. Michał Kopczyński and Dr. Aleksandra Jakóbczyk-Gola.
A narrative temporary exhibition (June – September 2024) in the new building of the Museum of Polish History at the Warsaw Citadel. The build of the exhibition was entrusted to New Amsterdam.
