Roads to Jerusalem
10 April–20 July 2025
The exhibition Roads to Jerusalem will attempt to present the phenomenon of Jerusalem as a city of three cultures: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. It will show Jerusalem not only as existing in a specific geographic, historical and cultural reality, but also as an imagined space: a metaphysical destination for pilgrims, a fantasy for travelers, and the eschatological end of the road in the afterlife for generations of the faithful. According to religious traditions, the world originated in Jerusalem and would end there one (Judgement) day. The city is full of contradiction and paradox. Shared and divided, its status has been tied to the spirituality and piety of the followers of various faiths and to tumultuous political conflict, not infrequently provoked by religious motives.
The exhibition is designed as an open and multicultural space of learning and dialogue where historical art and craft meet the work of contemporary artists. As well as artworks and artifacts created in Jerusalem and, more broadly, in Palestine, we will display ones that express fascination and longing for the land by evoking memories and symbolic explorations. Reflection on Jerusalem’s universal history, eternal myth and complicated present will be influenced by Warsaw’s local point of view. While the exhibition’s title refers to Jerusalem as a destination for pilgrims and wanderers, it also points to the particular location where it will be held: the main building of the National Museum in Warsaw, whose address is 3 Aleje Jerozolimskie, or Jerusalem Avenue.
Curators: Marcin Romeyko-Hurko, Aleksandra Sulikowska-Bełczowska
