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2 September 2010

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Polish Culture in the World Polish Cultural Institutes
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Museum in Nieborow and Arkadia
Division of the National Museum in Warsaw
languages: Polski  / English 
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Museum in Nieborow and Arkadia
Muzeum w Nieborowie i Arkadii
Oddział Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie
99-416 Nieborów
mgr Stefan Górski
tel./fax (+48 46) 838 56 35
www.nieborow.art.pl
Opening hours: Closed Mondays; open all other days, 10am-4pm; (May-September) 10am-5:30pm; park from 10am to the dusk.

The palace in Nieborow was built during the years 1690-1696 by one of the great Baroque architects, the Dutchman Tylman van Gameren. Helena and Michal Radziwill are responsible for the castle's current classical appearance, the result of reconstruction work done in the late eighteenth century. Elements of the castle were last reconstructed during the years 1921-1930 by Janusz Radziwill, and since then the residence has remained virtually unchanged, and preserves the original interiors of its eighteenth and nineteenth century rooms. The palace belonged to the Radziwill family until 1945; after the war, a museum was opened in it, and the castle was opened for use during special state occasions. A lovely park with Baroque gardens surrounds the castle.

Michal Radziwill amassed an impressive collection of Western European and Polish paintings, which was later added to by the castle's later owners. His wife collected "antiquities" Zancient sculptures and architectural fragments, Etruscan vases, Roman sarcophagi, funeral urns and medieval artefacts, including the famous Polovtsian cult carvings known as the babas from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The park called "Arkadia"Zthat imaginary land of happinessZwas her idea. There, nature and art are in harmony: the complex is composed of buildings imitating ancient ruins or the English Gothic style (Murgrabia House, Little Gothic House, Stone Arch, Diana's Temple with a Pantheon and Etruscan Room, the Sanctuary of the High Priest, the Cave of Sybil, the Tomb of Illusions, Circus and Amphitheatre). Arkadia is the only such classical-romantic historical complex in Europe, and the Museum received the European Award for the Protection of Historic Sites in 1994 for its restoration.

The palace interiors are decorated with Polish, English and French furniture, valuable paintings (including family portraits), Persian carpets, eighteenth and nineteenth century silver from well-known European goldsmithery centres; Saxon, Viennese, Berlin and sevrska porcelain; Polish ceramics, including majolica manufactured in the famous Nieborow factory, founded in the late nineteenth century by Michal Piotr Radziwill. (The factory still continues to produce tiles and dishes.)

The Radziwill family also accumulated a rich library, which fill glass-doored English bookshelves in the palace's library. In the nineteenth century, Nieborow's owners decorated it with two seventeenth-century globes, which had once stood at Versailles.

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VIDEO COVERAGE  PHOTO COVERAGE  PAINTING  GRAPHIC ART  DRAWING  PHOTOGRAPHY  PORTRAITS  POLISH FILM 
RECENTLY ADDED
Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires at the "Chopin and His Europe" Festival
August 30, 2010
Promotion of the Podlaskie Voivodship
July 30 - July 31, 2010
Andrzej Sosnowski
On Monday, September 20, the first Polish arena for the Euro 2012 Cup will open in Poznań. The official ceremony will be honoured with a concert featuring Sting performing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, conducted by Steven Mercurio.
Until September 25 (except for Sundays and holidays), the John the Baptist Archcathedral in Warsaw will host daily organ recitals as part of the 7th edition of the "Grand Organ of the Archicathedral" Festival.
"Dotyk człowieka/Beruehrungen" is the title of the exhibition presenting works of six Polish contemporary artists displayed at the German Embassy in Warsaw (Jazdów street): on view until September 27.
On October 17, the National Museum in Poznań will host the first public presentation of Claude Monet's "Beach in Pourville". The painting was stolen ten years ago. The painting returned to the museum in January 2010 after the folice found the thief.
Jazz pianist Chick Corea will give his only Polish solo concert on November 8 in Zabrze.
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