Board
Agnieszka Lajus, PhD, University of Warsaw Professor, Certified Curator
Director of the National Museum in Warsaw
Agnieszka Lajus has been with the museum since the 1990s, initially working with the European Art Collection and, from 2018 to 2024, as curator of the Collection of Polish Paintings until 1914. Beginning in February 2024, Lajus served as acting director of the museum. On 28th January 2025, following an official nationwide competition, she was appointed museum director.
She has curated many celebrated exhibitions, including Biedermeier, Pologne 1848-1918: Peindre l'âme d’une nation at Louvre-Lens, Poland: The Power of Images and Arcadia.
Lajus is a scholar of 19th-century painting and art criticism, the author of books and scientific publications, and a lecturer at the Institute of Art History of the University of Warsaw.
Joanna Kilian
Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs
Joanna Kilian is an art historian, curator of Italian painting (since 1995) and Old European Masters (since 2020), head of the Board of Curators at the National Museum in Warsaw. She curated or co-curated a number of exhibitions, e.g., Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ – a Masterpiece from the Vatican Collections and the Different Forms of Caravaggism (NMW, 1996–97); Guercino. The Triumph of the Baroque (NMW, 2013–14), and Brescia. The Renaissance in Northern Italy (NMW, 2016). She is the author of many popular science and academic papers as well as exhibition catalogues in Poland and abroad. Her academic essay, “Realists or eccentrics? 16th-century painting in Northern Italy”, received the main prize in its category in the 3rd edition of the Leopold Staff Literature Award (2017). Kilian is involved in promoting Italian culture and Polish-Italian cultural exchange. For her contribution to popularizing Italian culture in Poland, the President of Italy awarded her with the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Ordine della Stella d’Italia).
Małgorzata Łobocka
Deputy Director for Communication and Public Programs
Małgorzata Łobocka is a lawyer, auditor, and a cultural management specialist, with a focus on public sector finances. Łobocka is the author of numerous communication strategies and marketing campaigns for business and culture alike.
She is currently a lecturer in the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) and the Medical University of Warsaw's (WUM) joint EMBA programme in Healthcare.
She gained experience in the cultural sector during her time at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, Poland, which promotes Poland and Polish culture abroad. In 2020 and 2021, she worked closely with the National Museum in Warsaw.
Łobocka is a board member of the Museum of Warsaw Foundation, as well as a member of the Society for the
Encouragement of Fine Arts and the Friends of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. She is also behind one of Poland's most popular Instagram accounts about art and culture, @okulturze (Polish: About Culture).
Aleksandra Kielan
Deputy Director for Organization and Finances
Aleksandra Kielan is a trained musician and cultural manager. She gained professional experience in the public sector working at the Mazowiecki Instytut Kultury (Mazovian Institute of Culture), Sinfonia Varsovia and the State Archeological Museum in Warsawothers. Over the course of her twenty-seven-year career in culture, Kielan has managed over one hundred-person teams, organised and produced numerous cultural events, supervised complex investment processes, implemented structural and organisational changes, and actively participated in the preparation of overall and operational strategies. Kielan also served as a board member of the Fundacja Domu Muzyki Seniora (The Senior's House of Music Foundation), a member of the board of directors and treasurer of the Mazovian Regional Tourist Organization, and is an expert in Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programs.