Museum Council

Historian, Member of the European Parliament of the 6th term. Graduate of the Faculty of Foreign Trade at the Main School of Planning and Statistics. Long-term lecturer at the Warsaw School of Economics and many universities in Poland and abroad, professor and long-term director of the Institute of Polytechnic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Before 1989, Prof. Roszkowski was associated with the democratic opposition and was active in the Polish Independence Alliance. Author of many works and historical articles, including the most popular textbook on Poland’s recent history Historia Polski 1914–2015 (History of Poland 1914–2015), the first version of which he published in the underground as Andrzej Albert. On numerous occasions awarded for his scientific activity, honorary citizen of the City of Warsaw. In 2020, awarded the Order of the White Eagle.

Historian, associate professor at the University of Warsaw, lecturer at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw, its Deputy Rector for students and quality of education in the 2016–2020 term. Her main interests include the history of Old Polish parliamentarism, history of political culture and social communication in the modern era. Dr Choińska-Mika is the author of secondary-school textbooks, popular science works and numerous monographs; she also co-authored the school core curriculum in history. She is affiliated with the Polish Historical Society and the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions. From 2016 until 2020, she was member of the Steering Committee of the European Teaching and Learning Forum. Since 2017, she has served as chair of the Board of the Kosciuszko Foundation – Poland.

British historian, a graduate of the University of St Andrews, the Jagiellonian University and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, where he completed his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Norman Davies. He is a professor at the University of Aberdeen. Prof. Frost is the author of numerous books on the history of Central and Northern Europe, including: After the Deluge. Poland Lithuania and the Second Northern War, 1655–1660 (1993); The Northern Wars. War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558–1721 (2000) or The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania, vol. 1, The Making of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, 1385–1569 (2015), for which he received the Pro Historia Polonorum 2017 award. One of the most eminent experts on the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; a correspondent member of the Polish Historical Society and a member of the British Academy.

Historian, lecturer at the Jagiellonian University. In the years 1999–2005 he held the post of the Jagiellonian University Deputy Rector for Education. Vice-president of the Polish Historical Society. Author of several dozen monographs and scientific summary works (e.g. Samobójstwo Europy. Wielka Wojna 1914–1918 (Europe’s Suicide: The Great War of 1914–1918) and academic textbooks published in Poland and abroad. An outstanding expert on the religious, social, cultural and civilisational aspects of the history of Poland and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as a researcher of the history of Krakow. In 2018, his book Wielka Wojna Polaków 1914–1918 (The Great Polish War 1914–1918) was honoured with the First Prize in the Janusz Kurtyka Competition and the main prize in the Oskar Halecki Competition Historical Book of the Year 2018. On numerous occasions awarded for his scientific work; in 2005, Prof. Chwalba was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit and in 2019 Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Medieval historian, director of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, professor at the University of Warsaw. After graduation, employed at the University of Warsaw as an assistant lecturer, he was dismissed due to his involvement in the action of helping workers on strike in June 1976. He was a collaborator of the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR), and took part in the organisation of underground publishing activities. Restored to work at the university, Prof. Fałkowski defended his PhD thesis there in 1986. From 1993 to 2001, he was Secretary-General of the Polish Committee for UNESCO. He was an advisor to the Mayor of the City of Warsaw Lech Kaczyński, and head of the team for assessing the losses of Warsaw and its inhabitants during the 1939–1945 German occupation. From 2008 to 2012, he taught at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) as a guest professor. In 2013, he received his professorial appointment. From 2015 to 2017, he served as Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence. Since 2017, he has been director of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Awarded the Golden Cross of Merit, the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity, the Centenary Medal of Regained Independence and the Latvian Officer’s Cross of Recognition.

Graduate of the Faculty of History, University of Warsaw (modern archaeology), director of the National Institute for Museums and Public Collections (NIMOZ) since 2023. Co-author and coordinator of the Multiannual ‘Niepodległa’ Programme. For twenty years, Dr Florjanowicz has been professionally involved with both non-governmental organisations and public institutions in the cultural sector. From 2010 to 2013, director of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, then associated with the NIMOZ. Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from 2016 to 2023. Member of national and international expert and advisory panels, e.g. EU & Cultural Heritage Reflection Group. Project evaluator for educational and cultural programmes of the European Commission, member of the selection panel of the European Capital of Culture since 2019. Expert in heritage management and remembrance policy as well as education and public communication in the field of conservation, memorials and museology, as well as author of texts on these subjects.

Art historian, museologist and critic. She studied history of art at the University of Warsaw, where she received her PhD title and that of doctor habilitatus. Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, head of the Department of Theory and Experimentation of the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, deputy director of the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów. Dr Folga-Januszewska has worked at the National Museum in Warsaw (curator of the Cabinet of Graphic Arts and Contemporary Drawings, deputy director for Scientific Affairs and Education, director). Member of, among others, the International Council of Museums ICOM, president of ICOM-Poland (2002–2008 and 2012–2018), president of MOCO ICOM 2014–2016, member of SAREC ICOM. Expert of the Council of Europe on museums, expert of the UNESCO High Level Forum on Museums and expert in programmes of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Member of the Committee on Cultural Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Associated with such institutions as Centro di Studi Andrea Palladio in Vicenza, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and Musée Picasso in Paris. Author of more than 300 publications on museology, theory and 17th- to 20th-century art, she has curated more than 60 exhibitions delivered worldwide.

Historian, democratic opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic. In 1989, chairman of the Wrocław ‘Solidarity’ Civic Committee. In 1990–2022, director of the Ossoliński National Institute. He received his PhD title from the University of Wrocław, where he studied the history of the Polish independence movement and Polish-Russian relations in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as Russian history. Dr Juzwenko is the author of many historical publications, especially on Polish-Russian relations, including the essential book Polska a „biała” Rosja (Poland and ‘White’ Russia). He is the secretary of the Jan Nowak Jeziorański Award, a member of the Chapter of the Princess Jadwiga Śląska Award and the Chapter of the Eastern Review Award. In November 2007, he received the Gold Medal Gloria Artis for Contribution to Culture. In 2009 awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Rebirth of Poland.

Professor at the University of Bremen, sociologist, social philosopher, Member of the European Parliament. Graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Warsaw and Ruhr-Universität Bochum, followed by a doctoral degree at the University of Warsaw. During his career he has been associated with, among others, the University of Warsaw, the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, the University of Kassel, the Catholic University of America in Washington, Columbia University in New York, Princeton University, the University of Oxford, or the University of Cambridge. Prof. Krasnodębski is currently a member of the Board of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, president of the Association of Creators for the Republic, chairman of the Board of the Western Institute in Poznań, chairman of the Board of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and co-chairman of the Steering Committee of the Polish-British Belvedere Forum. Member of the European Parliament since 2014 (Vice-President in 2018–2019).

Political scientist, graduate of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin, as well as Postgraduate Studies in Journalism and Social Communication at the University of Warsaw. Director of the National Museum in Lublin since 2015. In 2005, she started her scientific and teaching work at the Department of Local Government and Local Politics of the Faculty of Political Science of the UMCS, where she received her PhD in the Humanities in 2010. Dr Mieczkowska has also completed the project International Journalism and Society: The Role of the Media in the Modern World at the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 2005 to 2009, she headed the Academic Media Group of the UMCS. From 2009 to 2010 she was the spokeswoman of the University and later the spokeswoman and director of the Lublin Mayor’s Office. From 2012 to 2014 she served as Deputy Mayor of the City of Lublin for Culture, Sport and External Relations.

Historian, Director of the Institute of History and Archival Studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, president of the Polish Historical Association. Specialises in the history of cities and the bourgeoise, historical demography, economic and social history, as well as prosopography and genealogy of the Polish nobility in the Middle Ages and modern times. Member of the Committee of Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2009–2013, Prof. Mikulski was a member of the Board of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. Currently, he is a member of the Board of the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, chairman of the Board of the District Museum in Toruń, and president of the Friends of Toruń Association. Author of many scientific articles and books, including: Przestrzeń i społeczeństwo Torunia od końca XIV do początku XVIII wieku (The Space and Society of Toruń from the Late 14th to the Early 18th Century), Mikołaj Kopernik − środowisko społeczne, pochodzenie i młodość (Nicolaus Copernicus: His Social Background, Origins and Youth). In 2016 awarded the Silver Cross of Merit, honorary doctorate of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, honorary citizen of Lidzbark Warmiński.

Lithuanian historian and professor, Director of the Lithuanian Institute of History. Co-founder and director of the Centre for the History of Prussia and Western Lithuania at the University of Klaipėda. He specialises in historical memory and medieval history, including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s relations with the Teutonic Order, the history of Samogitia, Lithuanian-German relations and the social history of medieval Lithuania. More recently, Prof. Nikžentaitis has been researching issues of the culture of memory and historical politics in the Central and Eastern European region. In 2000, his book Witold i Jagiełło: Polacy i Litwini we wzajemnym stereotypie (Vytautas and Jagiełło: Poles and Lithuanians in Mutual Stereotypes) was published in Poland. In 2009, he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Historian, Sovietologist, full professor at the Jagiellonian University, head of the Department of History of Eastern Europe and Studies of 19th- and 20th- Century Empires at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, for many years editor-in-chief of the periodical Arka and the bimonthly Arcana. He has lectured on Polish and Russian history at American (e.g. Columbia, Harvard, Rice), English (Cambridge, UCL) and Canadian universities, as well as in Brno, Tokyo and Dublin, among others. Since 1980, Prof. Nowak has been involved in journalistic activity in clandestine publications. During martial law, he was a co-organiser of the ‘Free Jagiellonian University’, which gave lectures for workers’ groups; he was an associate of the Christian Workers’ University in Nowa Huta. Author of more than thirty books on the history of Poland and Eastern Europe (with a total circulation of over 300,000 copies), including such titles as the multi-volume Dzieje Polski (History of Poland), Pierwsza zdrada Zachodu: zapomniany appeasement 1920 (The First Betrayal of the West: The Forgotten Appeasement of 1920) and Polska i trzy Rosje. Studium polityki wschodniej Józefa Piłsudskiego (Poland and Three Russias: A Study of Józef Piłsudski’s Eastern Policy). Knight of the Order of the White Eagle.

Writer, publicist and journalist. Since the 1970s, he has been involved in opposition activities, e.g. as a co-worker of the Workers’ Defence Committee, one of the founders of the Students’ Solidarity Committee in Cracow in 1977, and a co-founder of the Independent Students’ Union in Cracow. During martial law, he stayed in France, where he was, among other things, editor of the Kontakt monthly magazine and correspondent for Radio Free Europe. After 1989, he cooperated with numerous press titles and hosted television programmes. From 2006 to 2007 he served as president of the Board of Directors of Polish Television. Since 2016 Mr Wildstein has been a member of the college of the Institute of National Remembrance. He has received numerous awards for literary achievements, including the Kościelski Foundation Award, the Andrzej Kijowski Award, the Józef Mackiewicz Literary Award and the annual Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (2018). In 2016, he was made a Knight of the Order of the White Eagle.

Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. She represents the City of Warsaw on the Board of the Polish History Museum. She has been a city councillor since 2006. For three terms, she served as chair of the Culture and Promotion Committee and is currently its vice-chair. Since 2006, Ms Zakrzewska has also been involved with the Committee on Local Government and European Integration. In 2018, she was appointed chair of the Council awarding the City Awards to Soldiers of the Warsaw Uprising. She is member of the Board of the Royal Castle and the Committee of the Garden of the Righteous in Warsaw. She works at the National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute.