The cave was
a space for building
a shared identity
The cave is one of the oldest and most capacious symbols in culture. It is a hidden space, separated from everyday life, requiring a descent inward—both physical and mental. In myths, religions, and philosophy, the cave often appears as a place of initiation, refuge, and encounter with what is difficult and ambiguous. It is there that human beings confronted their own fear, memory, and ignorance. In the cave, stories were born that allowed a community to understand itself—through ritual, symbol, and narrative. A collective experience could become the personal experience of an individual, and the memory of events—even those in which one did not participate—could be inscribed in the imagination. The cave was therefore a space for constructing a shared identity.
This symbolic dimension of the cave returns today as a key to the narrative of the exhibition “The Round Table. A Moment of Transition.” We propose it in order to “cut out” the Round Table from ongoing disputes and ad hoc judgments, to free it from the everyday realm of politics and to look at it from a different perspective—deeper and more reflective.
The symbolic cave that the exhibition space at the Polish History Museum becomes is a place of silence and concentration. It is here that voices previously faint or drowned out can resonate: stories of hope and pride, but also of disappointment, loss, and a sense of injustice. In the cave, these narratives do not cancel one another out—they create a polyphony without which it is impossible to understand the experience of political transformation.
“THE ROUND TABLE. A MOMENT OF TRANSITION”a single-piece exhibition♦
Feb. 13 – May 17, 2026, ENTRANCE FREE during the Museum’s opening hours, the Warsaw Citadel, temporary exhibition hall [level 0]
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The cave as a space
of transformation
The cave is also a space of transformation. In ancient cultures, it was precisely there that rites of passage took place, symbolically separating "before" from "after." Bloodless revolutions—such as the one that began in Poland in 1989—are devoid of a single, unambiguous moment of triumph. They lack a mythical clash and a clear end to the old world. They are a long, heterogeneous process, full of tensions and contradictions. That is why we need symbolic forms of narrating them—ones that allow the experience of millions of people, stretched out over time, to be concentrated in one place and one image.
The second key symbol of the
exhibition is the round table
The second key symbol of the exhibition is the round table—a piece of furniture with exceptional significance in history and culture. The round table abolishes hierarchy: there is no privileged seat at it; every participant sits opposite the others on equal terms. In the European tradition, it is associated with the myth of King Arthur, the community of knights, and the idea of equality. In the Polish experience of the 20th century, it gained particular importance. It became the opposite of the "Yalta table"—a symbol of decisions imposed from outside, made over the heads of societies. Whereas the Yalta table signified the loss of agency and entry into an era of darkness, the Round Table symbolizes the attempt to emerge from it—through conversation, compromise, and responsibility.
The history of Poland in the second half of the 20th century can be told as the story of two tables. In February 1945, three superpower leaders divided the world at a small table, condemning Poland to decades of dependency. In February 1989, over fifty people sat at the great Round Table, aware of their own weakness but ready to take responsibility for a country mired in deep economic and political crisis. Instead of the logic of division, the logic of stitching together emerged—saving what could still be saved.
This story cannot exist without "Solidarity"—a mass, peaceful social movement that was born in August 1980 from a rebellion against violence and lies. Martial law, repressions, and years of stagnation seemed to extinguish the movement, yet in the second half of the 1980s it became clear that the country could neither be governed nor reformed without dialogue. At the Round Table, representatives of the underground opposition, the communist authorities, and their allies met. Trust between them was zero, and yet dialogue began. For the first time in decades, conflict was transferred from the field of force to the field of conversation.
This process was long, laborious, and not without tensions. It took place not only at the main table but also at numerous "sub-tables" and working groups. Some talks occurred in the spotlight, others in semi-shadow, in places like Magdalenka, where compromises were born that were difficult to articulate publicly. For some, they became a symbol of murky deals; for others, the necessary political backstage. The Round Table stirred ambivalent emotions from the start.
The breakthrough came in the agreements on elections. Completely free elections to the Senate and partially free elections to the Sejm opened doors through which history entered. On June 4, 1989, Poles seized the opportunity to choose. Although the system was still fortified with safeguards of the old power, social energy proved stronger. Soon Tadeusz Mazowiecki became prime minister, and the transformation process gained irreversible momentum.
At the same time, the political transformation was not a uniform experience. It brought spectacular economic success and Poland's return to Europe, but also social costs, inequalities, and a sense of exclusion. For some, the Round Table remains a symbol of courage and wise compromise; for others, a sign of an unfulfilled revolution, elite betrayal, and lack of justice. The memory of 1989 is torn between pride and disappointment.
The exhibition "The Round Table. A Moment of Transition" does not impose a single answer. It invites visitors into a symbolic cave—a space of reflection, dialogue, and working through the experience of transformation. It reminds us that democracy is not a gift but a task, and conversation can be more difficult and courageous than fighting. History did not end in the 20th century. It is we who decide whether the next chapters will be written at tables imposed by force or at new Round Tables.
Exhibition Team
Organizer
Polish History Museum
Concept
Marcin Napiórkowski, DSc
Curator
Dr. Michał Przeperski, PhD
Scholarly Collaboration
Krzysztof Niewiadomski
Coordinator
Aleksandra Grabowska
Exhibition Design and Multimedia Production
Platige Image S.A.
Marek Jankowski – Producer
Anna Pokora-Grabkowska – Art Director
Piotr Kierzkowski – Creative Graphic Designer
Marcin Placek – Multimedia Production Coordinator
Marek Wasilewski – AV Systems Engineer
Arkadiusz Kołodziejczyk – AV Systems Engineer
Promotion Department
Emilia Szczęsna, Joanna Drożak-Chojnacka
Education Department
Adam Rębacz
Technical Department
Karolina Korek, Mariusz Kruszewski
Collections Department
Konrad Morawski, Magdalena Lisowska
Conservation Department
Aleksandra Wróbel, Wojciech Komorowski
Accessibility Coordinator
Katarzyna Szafrańska
Public Procurement Department
Anna Kucharska
Legal Department
Natalia Gruca, Maciej Szudek
Security Department
Artur Bogusz, Robert Krzak
Strategy and Media Relations Department
Magdalena Baj
Administrative Department
Maciej Redyk, Krzysztof Sitek
Organizational Support
Bartłomiej Dzikowski
Text Editing
Alicja Kosterska
Promotional Materials Design
Zuzanna Bukała
