The Great Botanical Story

from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

MNW Volunteer Program

The MNW volunteer program has been officially sponsored by the Director of the National Institute of Freedom — Center for the Development of Civil Society (NIW-CRSO) as part of the celebration of the International Year of Volunteering 2026.

The Voluntary Service of the National Museum in Warsaw invites you to the Great Botanical Story — a meeting devoted to plant motifs in art. On Saturday, October 10, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., together with volunteers and experts from Warsaw's Green Management Board, we will look at selected works from the MNW collection, presenting a wealth of plant motifs.
The meeting will be an opportunity to look at art from an artistic, historical and natural perspective, as well as to talk about the relationship of man with nature, the importance of plants and biodiversity. The partner of the October event is the [Green Management Board of the City of Warsaw] (https://zzw.waw.pl/).

On our website there is a map with marked places in the permanent galleries, where you will be able to meet volunteers and experts from the Green Management Board of the City of Warsaw - [map is available at this link] (https://www.mnw.art.pl/gfx/muzeumnarodowe/userfiles/_public/wielkiebotaniczneopr10-2026_mapa.pdf).

Deadline: Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Duration: approx. 90 min.
Place: permanent galleries in the Main Building of the MNW
For whom: no age restrictions
Rules of participation: entrance ticket to the permanent galleries available at the museum box office or online at a special price of PLN 2 during the event hours. The number of tickets in the pool is limited.
Event availability: no architectural barriers, no sign language translation

WE INVITE YOU TO A UNIQUE MEETING WITH THE PAINTINGS

• [Secretary with setting and clock] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/397970), ca. 1750; clock mechanism 1690—1700, National Museum in Warsaw

The richly decorated secretary features scenes featuring Apollo, Chronos, and allegorical personifications of the seasons. Polychrome decoration, gilded ornaments and a built-in clock create an unusual tale of time, transience and harmony of nature. What do the depicted characters and seasons symbolize? What role does the clock play in the composition? If you want to discover the meaning and uniqueness of this unusual piece of furniture, we invite you to the Gallery of Ancient Art.

Anna Susek — MNW volunteer since 2023, is eager to learn new cultures and languages. In art, as in life, she enjoys themes related to nature, the proud guardian of the representative of the species Felis catus — Felicjana.

• Claude Joseph Vernet, [Morning (View of the harbour at early dawn)] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/438191), 1774, National Museum in Warsaw

The picture shows the port at dawn, bathed in the soft light and calm of the waking day. Vernet combines the beauty of nature with a reflection on transience, security and human destiny. What do the lighthouse, the harbor and the moored ship symbolize? Why was this painting included in the collection of King Stanisław August Poniatowski? Visit the 19th Century Art Gallery and learn about the history of this building.

Magdalena Browarska-Popiołek — “I am an economist and art historian by education, and my greatest love is theater. I like to accompany others in contemplating a work of art, in looking at it together through the eyes of a child, in asking questions and searching for answers. I believe that art can appeal to anyone, you just need to give it time and a moment of silence.”

Aleksandra Skrobowska — works in the Green Management Board of the City of Warsaw, where she and her team are involved in the creation and implementation of projects related to environmental education, including the activities of the Kamień Educational Pavilion. Passionate about Warsaw greenery and birdwatching, lover of mountains and sea, as well as nature photographer.

• Artur Grottger, [In the Saxon Garden] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/446025), 1863, National Museum in Warsaw

In the picture, we see a seemingly ordinary park scene, which hides a story about memory, suffering and the struggle for independence. Artur Grottger, although he had never been to Warsaw, repeatedly drew inspiration from the events of Warsaw and created poignant works devoted to the fate of Poles. Who are the characters depicted? What do the doll and the greyhound symbolize? Come to the Art Gallery of the 19th Century and during the discussion try to answer these and other questions.

Katarzyna Brzezińska-Zielińska — volunteer at the National Museum in Warsaw. She loves to travel around Poland and visits all the museums she encounters. He is fascinated by portrait painting.

• Maksymilian Gierymski, [Horse cavalcade in birch] (http: //• Maksymilian Gierymski, Horse cavalcade in birch, 1870—1871, National Museum in Warsaw), 1870—1871, National Museum in Warsaw

In the painting, Gierymski showed riders crossing an autumn birch grove. Why is it not hunting, but light, color and nature that become the main protagonists of the scene? Discover this extraordinary painting in the Art Gallery of the 19th Century.

Ewa Juda — archivist by education, teacher by passion, volunteer at the National Museum in Warsaw. Explores the symbolism of the paintings of Flemish painters.

Agnieszka Papis — landscape architect. He works as an arborist in the Green Management Board of Warsaw. He is involved in the diagnosis of urban trees. He watches them from the level of the ground and the crown. In addition, he is a volunteer at a shelter in Korabiewice, where he looks after and looks for homes for homeless dogs.

• Jacek Malczewski, [Landscape with mountain ash] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/444531), right and left part of triptych [Go over the stream] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/444532), 1909—1910, National Museum in Warsaw

This is a unique example of Jacek Malczewski's symbolist painting, in which the poetry of Juliusz Słowacki, the Polish landscape and the mysterious world of symbols create a fairytale story about return, homeland and creativity. The central role here is played by mountain ash — a motif present in Polish tradition. If you want to know what it can symbolize, take a tour of the 19th Century Art Gallery.

Beata Wolniewicz — “I have been a volunteer at MNW for two years and I take part in the program” Volunteers about works of art “, as part of which I prepare stories about selected objects. The painting we will meet is one of those works that inspired me to prepare the story and delve into the beauty of nature shown in it.”

Katarzyna Deda — a gardener by training, a dendrologist by profession. He works in the Green Management Board of the city of Warsaw, where together with a team of dendrologists he deals with valuable and difficult cases of trees. In her free time, she hugs trees and climbs them, arranges flowers, weaves wreaths and baskets. It is best to relax admiring the Vistula nature from the deck of traditional rafting boats.

• Olga Boznańska, [In the Orangery] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/446515), 1890, National Museum in Warsaw

The artist showed a young girl standing among the plants of the conservatory, with a basket of flowers in her hand. What role in the composition does the surrounding nature play, and does not the heroine herself become another delicate plant “under the shade”? We invite you to the Art Gallery of the 19th Century.

Katarzyna Rzechowska — MNW volunteer fascinated by art history and the secrets hidden in paintings. Book collector. “When the museum halls close, I change the gallery to one without walls, among fields, forests and lakes.”

Anna Zawitkowska — landscape architect. He works in the Green Management Board of the city of Warsaw, where on a daily basis he deals with the maintenance of greenery in Bielany and Żoliborz. Passionate about blue-green infrastructure, art, dance and nature.

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Illustration: Claude Joseph Vernet, Morning (View of the harbour at early dawn), 1774, National Museum in Warsaw. [See image in Digital MNW] (https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/zbiory/447433).