The Ancient Art Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw is the largest and the most complete assemblage of pieces of art and craftsmanship of ancient Mediterranean cultures in Poland.

What is more, the establishment (in 1938) and later development of the exhibition has been closely connected with Polish archaeological missions. These were conducted in Egypt (Edfu, Tell Atrib), Sudan (Faras, Dongola), Cyprus (Nea Paphos), in the Crimea (Mirmeki) and Syria (Tell Abu Hafur, Dzhassa el Garbi, Rad Shakra), initially by Professor Kazimierz Michałowski, the Deputy Director of the Museum, and later by his students.

The acquisition of ancient art collections which once belonged to the families of Branicki from Wilanów, Radziwiłł from Nieborów, and Potocki from Łańcut and Jabłonna as well as surviving parts of German collections from museums in Wrocław, Szczecin, Kaliningrad and Braniewo enabled creating a modern exhibition of ancient art (in 1949). The typological and chronological arrangement of the material allowed presenting, for the first time in the history of Polish museums, a synthetic picture of the development of classical and Middle Eastern art.

The recovery of the Gołuchów collection from the former Soviet Union, as well as the ample deposit of classical and Egyptian artworks (monumental stone sculpture) from the Louvre ensured the high quality and international significance of the exhibition.

For nearly 40 years the exhibition was the only one of its kind in Poland. The educational activity of the Museum covered the whole country. However, as a result of an agreement with the museums in Szczecin, Poznań, Łańcut and Wilanów,  the Ancient Art Collection has, over the past 25 years, returned a considerable part of the previously acquired artifacts. The only deposits remaining in our collection are those necessary for preserving the coherence of the exposition.

The Ancient Art Gallery occupies the ground floor and the basement of the main building of the National Museum in Warsaw. It consists of the following collections: Classical Art – Greece, Rome and Etruria (11,000 objects), Ancient Egypt (4,500 objects), and Ancient Middle East – Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria and Palestine (500 objects).

See also: The Ancient Art Collection