Professor Tadeusz Majda passed away

It is with great sadness that we received the news of the passing of Professor Tadeusz Majda on May 12, 2026, a long-time curator of the Department of Oriental Art at the National Museum in Warsaw, and a distinguished Orientalist and Turkologist.

He was the author of groundbreaking exhibitions on Islamic art, including War and Peace. Ottoman–Polish Relations in the 15th–19th Centuries (National Museum in Warsaw, 2000, and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul, 1999), Orientalism in Painting, Drawing and Prints in Poland in the 19th and the First Half of the 20th Century (National Museum in Warsaw, 2008), Distant Neighbour Close Memories. 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations (Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Istanbul, 2014), and Orientalism in Polish Art (Pera Museum, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation in Istanbul, 2014–2015).

Among his numerous publications on Islamic art and Orientalism are outstanding exhibition and collection catalogues, including Masterpieces of Persian Art from Polish Collections (Tehran, 2013).
His colleagues will remember him as a man of great class, a kind mentor, and an unmatched model of integrity. He will forever remain an irreplaceable authority for generations of researchers and museum professionals.