The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw is beginning a comprehensive modernisation of its historic headquarters at 1 Kredytowa Street. The institution has already signed a contract with the general contractor, and the investment, worth nearly PLN 60 million, will be financed from the budget of the Mazovia Province. The completion of the works is planned for the first quarter of 2028.
Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw – purpose of the works
The planned activities focus on improving the technical condition of the building and protecting it from the effects of weather conditions. The modernisation project involves renovating the façade, including full conservation work to restore the historical appearance of the plasterwork and details. It will also include the renovation of the stone entrance stairs and the installation of new lighting. In addition, there are plans to replace the roofing, install new thermal insulation and modernise technical elements, which is essential for the safety of the museum’s priceless collections.
Protection of collections and comfort of use
As part of the investment, the basements will be protected against damp by installing horizontal and vertical insulation and drying the walls. A new ventilation system will be installed, with particular emphasis on museum storage rooms. This is of particular importance for the Museum Library’s resources, which include a reading room with a collection of approximately 30,000 volumes, including old prints, cartographic materials and periodicals. The building also houses the Archival and Photographic-Film Documentation Department, which holds over 120,000 manuscripts, photographs, negatives, posters and engravings. The building will also receive new windows and doors. The work schedule has been designed so that the museum can continue to operate for almost the entire duration of the investment, with possible temporary restrictions on access to selected collections.
The Ethnographic Museum and the choice of colours for the façade
The modernisation is being carried out in close cooperation with the conservator of monuments. The investor is the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, and the design documentation was prepared by architect Łukasz Szleper from LS Projekt Pracownia Architektoniczna. Investment supervision is carried out by WDI Obsługa Inwestycji, while the general contractor is Renewal Art, selected in a tender procedure. In the original design by Henryk Marconi, the façade of the building was cream-coloured, inspired by Venetian dolomite. After the war, during the reconstruction according to the design by Czesław Wenger, lime-sand plaster, coloured in a shade of whitened ochre, was applied to the façades. Stratigraphic studies revealed the presence of a layer of fine plaster in a cream-beige colour with a yellow dominant and a delicate red warmth. The final decision on the future colour of the façade will be made after approval by the conservation committee.
History of the building at 1 Kredytowa Street
The Neo-Renaissance building of the former Land Credit Society, and later the State Ethnographic Museum established in 1888, was erected on the corner of Kredytowa and Mazowiecka Streets in 1853-1858 according to a design by Józef Górecki and Henryk Marconi. The architects were inspired by the New Procurator’s Office in Venice. The building was distinguished by two front façades and richly decorated interiors, including the Main Hall designed by Karol Marconi. There were two gates leading to the property, from Kredytowa and Mazowiecka Streets, with the latter still bearing visible traces of bullets from World War II. We wrote more about this extraordinary monument HERE. The museum building suffered serious damage during the defence of Warsaw in 1939 and during the Warsaw Uprising. The museum lost a large part of its collection at that time. The reconstruction was carried out in stages from the late 1940s and was not completed until the early 1970s. Today, the building is considered to be Warsaw’s first office building.
Source:wit.edu.pl,culture.pl, mazovia.pl
See also:Architecture in Poland|Monument | Renovation|History|Warsaw
The building before 1939 and today. Photo: Andrzej Jeżewski, Warsaw in old photographs, Artistic and Graphic Publishing House, Warsaw 1960, p. 119 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Mazowiecka Street in 1906 and 2024. Photo: Tygodnik Ilustrowany 37/1906 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
