The POLIN Museum of Polish Jews encourages the patronage of selected objects from the museum collections, including over 14,000 articles related to the thousand-year history of Polish Jews. The museum’s collection includes items of religious practices (known as Judaica), works of art, as well as historical collections and archaeological monuments.

The first category includes primarily items used in religious practices including candlesticks, decorative balsaminki (vessels for storing fragrant herbs), or kiddush cups used during the suppers. The museum’s collections also include items directly of prayer, such as atars decorated with silver embroidery or velvet pouches in which a tallit (ritual shawl) was hidden after the prayer.

The art collections at the POLIN Museum include 19th and 20th-century as well as contemporary works. They present the heritage of Polish Jews through authors’ biographies or through items in the case of contemporary artists.

The funds raised in the campaign will support the conservation and purchase of new acquisitions, digitization (digital documentation and online sharing) and the display of selected objects.

Each donor will receive a patronage certificate and will be honored when presenting the item on the museum’s website.

The museum objects of patronage include a nineteenth-century brass Sabbath candlestick, formerly part of a set, which was made by the goldsmith Motel Inwentarz, a drawing by Iwona Chmielewska depicting the protagonist of Janusz Korczak’s book – King Matt the First from the book “King Matt the First”, or the postcard from the 1890s showing The Great Synagogue opened in 1878 on Tłomackie Street, a symbol of Reform Judaism in Warsaw.

Adrian Andrzejewski