Art is pretty and fun.

Being, as I am, obsessed with shiny things, I felt that it was high time that I visited Warsaw's National Art Museum. Although all reports indicate that it is inferior to the famed Czartoryski (or National*) Museum in Krakow, I quite enjoyed my visit. The building itself is rather formidable, and they have a problem keeping the rooms cool, but their collection was certainly interesting.

The National Museum's charming edifice:

Please note car parked on sidewalk right on front of the museum!! This would not fly in the US.

I particuliarly enjoyed the, what I found to be, very strange and also quite extensive medieval collection. They have a whole wing of carved and panel-painted altar pieces from late medieval Poland. I've never seen some of these styles before, but to give you an idea of the flavor of it, they seemed to be into penance. And I mean really into penance. I saw Mary Magdalene in a hair-shirt more than I have in the entire history of my research, and I actually know something about her.

Here's a prime example** of the favorite subject matter:

And to conclude, here's what I've really learned from the whole experience: from now on, I'm spelling "Mediaeval" as they do, with as many vowels as possible. Because it makes me sound so cultured and European.

*I'm guessing all major art museums in Poland are called "National" ... I can't imagine why.

** This image was purloined from an entirely unaffiliated website, because the National Museum's site doesn't actually have any pictures of ART on it.