On Friday, 23 November 2018, Count Feliks Sobański Foundation and the National Museum in Warsaw signed an agreement on finalizing a donation towards the NMW’s Department of Coins and Medals. 

 

The vast collection held at the National Museum in Warsaw includes a donation made by Count Kazimierz Sobański, which coincided with Poland’s regained independence and paved the way for establishing the NMW’s Department of Coins and Medals. The present donation agreement was signed almost exactly 100 years after those events. Funds donated by Count Feliks Sobański Foundation will contribute to refurbishing the NMW’s Department of Coins and Medals and preparing a modern public presentation of the numismatic collection. The commendable philanthropic activities of the Sobański family are continued by Michał, Elżbieta and Izabela Sobański.

 

The new exhibition is scheduled to open in 2020. Visitors will be able to learn about the history of money, discover the origins of the Department and get to know its most important donators. The accompanying publication will provide an in-depth description of Count Sobański’s collection, which encompassed almost 9,000 Polish coins minted since the reign of king Sigismund the Old until the mid-19th century, and was one of the largest and finest numismatic collections in Poland at the turn of the 20th century. The catalogue will also shed light on the fate of the NMW’s numismatic exhibits during World War II. 

 

Since 2012, the Museum has successively opened a number of rearranged and refurbished exhibition spaces. Visitors are welcome to explore the Professor Kazimierz Michałowski Faras Gallery, Gallery of Medieval Art, Gallery of Old Masters, Gallery of 19th Century Art, Gallery of 20th and 21st Century Art and Gallery of Polish Design. In 2019, as part of a project co-financed from the 2014–20 Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme, we plan to open an entirely rearranged Gallery of Ancient Art. 

 

Opening the new Department of Coins and Medals to the public will crown the work undertaken in 2011 by Agnieszka Morawińska (Director of the NMW between 2010 and 2018) and her team, aimed at refurbishing the permanent galleries and changing the Museum's public image.