Polish Museum of America

What is Polish Museum of America?

The museum holds Polish artifacts and artwork, including embroidered folk costumes, and its collection is still growing. Works by noted artists, from paintings and sculpture to drawings and lithographs, tell the story of Polish and Polish American art.

Several exhibitions open each year, often with catalogs in both English and Polish, and the museum hosts lectures, films, theater and school visits, sometimes with partner institutions. It belongs to the Chicago Cultural Alliance as a core member; the alliance links 25 of the city's ethnic museums and cultural centers. The building itself was designed by John S. Flizikowski and mixes Neoclassical and Art Deco styles.

History of Polish Museum of America

The museum was founded in 1935 in what was then the center of Chicago's Polish community. It remains the main gathering place for official ceremonies on Casimir Pulaski Day, when city and state leaders come to honor Chicago's Polish residents. Its building holds a National Register of Historic Places listing.

Visiting Polish Museum of America: tips

The museum is listed as wheelchair accessible. Allow about an hour, longer if a lecture or film is scheduled. The Ukrainian National Museum is about 1.2 miles away, making a natural pairing, and the National Hellenic Museum and the Chicago History Museum are about 1.7 and 1.8 miles away. Gas is about 0.3 mile away and food within about 0.1 mile. Exhibitions change several times a year, so check what is on before you go. On Casimir Pulaski Day the museum hosts official ceremonies, so expect a crowd then.