Muzeum Diecezjalne w Siedlcach

About the museum

The Diocesan Museum was founded after the restoration of the Janów diocese in 1918. Its first bishop, Henryk Przeździecki, established the museum with its seat in Janów Podlaski. In 1924 the collections were moved to Siedlce and displayed in the curia building, and in March 1928 the museum was entered in the register of museums and art collections in Poland. During the German occupation in 1939 the collection was plundered and the museum closed; some of the most valuable objects were hidden by Fr Jan Grabowski.

Following an appeal by the Polish Episcopate in 1973, Fr Tadeusz Kulik became the diocesan conservator in 1974 and began to gather the collections; the museum was reactivated in 1982. In the 1990s a new building at ul. Biskupa Ignacego Świrskiego was adapted, and on 1 March 2000 Bishop Jan Wiktor Nowak formally re-established the museum. Its most famous work is El Greco’s “Ecstasy of St Francis”, the only one of its kind in Poland, which was discovered by a team from the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences and first displayed publicly on 15 October 2004.

In 2017 a painting by José de Ribera entered the collection, and in 2022 the museum purchased a painting by Diego Velázquez, first shown to the public on 10 February 2023. In 2018, to mark the museum’s centenary, the first major El Greco exhibition in Poland was organised.

Highlights

• El Greco’s “Ecstasy of St Francis” – the only work by this artist in Poland
• Painting by José de Ribera
• Painting by Diego Velázquez
• Painting and applied art from the old churches of the diocese
• Museum lessons for schools

Permanent exhibition

• Ekspozycja stała Muzeum Diecezjalnego w Siedlcach – Paintings by El Greco, Ribera and Velázquez and collections of sacred art from the Siedlce diocese.

Founded

1918

Operated by

Diecezja Siedlecka

Admission & discounts

Tickets can be bought at the museum’s ticket office or online via the events website.

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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