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 co-curated many celebrated exhibitions, including Biedermeier (MNW, 2017-18); Pologne 1848-1918: Peindre l'âme d’une nation at Louvre-Lens (2019-20), as well as its Polish edition (Poland: The Power of Images, MNW, 2020-21); Arcadia (MNW, 2023-24); La Pologne révée: 100 chefs-d’oeuvre du musée national de Varsovie (Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne, 2025) oraz Black Carnival: Ensor/Wojtkiewicz (MNW, 2025-26).
Lajus is a scholar of 19th-century painting and art criticism, the author of books and scientific publications. She is also a lecturer at the Institute of Art History of the University of Warsaw and participates in international scientific conferences and promotes Polish culture through lectures abroad. Lajus is a member of, among others, ICOM, SHS, the Council for Museums and National Memorial Sites, the Council of the National Museum in Wrocław, and the advisory committee of the “Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide” journal.
Joanna Kilian
Deputy Director for Research
Joanna Kilian is an art historian, specialising in Italian painting of the 16th and 17th centuries. She has been connected to the museum since the 1990s, when she worked as curator of Italian painting. Between 2020-2023, she served as the curator of the Old Masters Gallery and the head of the Board of Curators at the National Museum in Warsaw.
She curated or co-curated a number of international exhibitions including Caravaggio’s “The Entombment of Christ” – a Masterpiece from the Vatican Collections and the Different Forms of Caravaggism (MNW, 1996–97); Guercino: The Triumph of the Baroque (MNW, 2013–14), and Brescia: The Renaissance in Northern Italy (MNW, 2016). Both her scientific and curatorial work focus on the Baroque and the Renaissance in Northern Italy. Her research focuses in particular on iconography and interdisciplinary contextual approaches, taking into account historical, cultural and social aspects.
She is the author of many popular science and academic papers as well as exhibition catalogues in Poland and abroad. Kilian collaborates with the international academic community as a member of Il Centro Studi Internazionale “Il Guercino”, an institution promoting research and education in the field of Italian and European art history of the 16th and 17th centuries.
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. The President of Italy bestowed upon her the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Ordine della Stella d’Italia) for her contribution to popularising Italian culture in Poland.
Małgorzata Borkowska
Deputy Director for Communication and Education
Małgorzata Borkowska is a lawyer, auditor, and a cultural management specialist, with a focus on public sector finances. She is a lecturer in the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) and the Medical University of Warsaw's (WUM) joint EMBA programme in Healthcare. She was part of the museum team in 2020-2021 and then returned in 2024 as the Deputy Director for Communication and Education. She is responsible for communications and marketing, education, publishing, visitor services, the museum bookshop, fundraising and strategic partnerships, as well as cultural projects and events.
She gained experience in the cultural sector during her time at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, she collaborated with the Warsaw Culture Observatory and the National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad – Polonika. She sat on the board of the Warsaw Museum Foundation and is a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and the Society of Friends of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Borkowska has been involved in numerous projects that have won awards and distinctions in prestigious museum and cultural competitions (including the Sybilla competition, Mazovian Cultural Events – Wierzba, Słoneczniki).
Borkowska is the author of numerous communication strategies and marketing campaigns for cultural institutions and pharmaceutical companies. She is active at the intersection of culture, business and new technologies. She collaborated with the Culture Department of “Wprost” weekly magazine and is the co-author of the podcast ‘Wprost o kulturze’ (Polish: Wprost [Straightforward] about Culture). She is also involved in the Polish Capitals of Culture project initiated by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and is behind one of Poland's most popular Instagram accounts about art and culture, @okulturze (Polish: About Culture).
Aleksandra Kielan
Deputy Director for Organisation and Finances
Aleksandra Kielan has been associated with the National Museum in Warsaw since 2024. A musician by education.
She began her career in Warsaw's cultural institutions as an event organiser and a producer of concerts and festivals. She co-created comprehensive and operational strategies for public cultural institutions, introduced structural and organisational changes, and supervised complex investment processes. She gained her professional experience at the Mazovian Institute of Culture, Sinfonia Varsovia and the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw.
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 Organisation, and is an expert in Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programmes.