Almost 40,000 people took part in the 10th “Senior Citizens’ Weekend with Culture” campaign. From 29 September to 1 October, over 500 cultural institutions across Poland offered a free of charge or for a symbolic fee participation in plays, concerts, workshops, museum visits and other unique events.

Most institutions (86) joined the campaign in the Małopolskie Voivodeship. Many attractions also awaited seniors in the Mazowieckie, Pomorskie and Śląskie Voivodeships. Among the cities, Kraków, Warsaw, Gdańsk, Lublin, Łódź, Katowice and Toruń offered the widest choice.

Among museums, the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk enjoyed the highest attendance, with over 3,000 visitors. Their admission to the museum’s various departments cost a symbolic zloty and included, among other things, an open-air painting session around the “Mazurek” yacht near the Granaries on Ołowianka Island.

The National Museum in Warsaw was visited by 1 682 people. Seniors participated in a joint “Battle of Grunwald” jigsaw puzzle, interactive tasks and games in the museum’s galleries, musical guided tours of the Early Art Gallery and the 19th Century Art Gallery, and body and mind training with meditation.

The National Museum in Kielce, the District Museum in Tarnów, the Gdansk Museum or the Museum of the Mazovian Countryside in Sierpc all recorded high attendance. Regional museums such as the Zamoyski Museum in Kozłówka, the Museum in Lębork or the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Manor Museum in Kąśna Dolna were also well attended.

Among artistic institutions, a record attendance was recorded by the Poznań Philharmonic, which organised a free concert entitled “Coronation Mass”. Seniors also visited cultural centres and libraries, where they took part in meetings, lectures, workshops, dance performances, concerts and film screenings, informs Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński