Temporary exhibition titled Horses in Warsaw in the 19th and 20th centuries  refers to the history and traditions of Warsaw through the prism of the fate of its main characters, the "Warsaw horses".

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, and even in the interwar period, horses were the basic means of transport. They pulled vehicles of all types and purposes along the cobblestones of Warsaw. Irreplaceable in work and completely dependent on their owners. As long as they could stay on their feet, they worked to the last of their strength. Wherever you looked in Warsaw at that time, horses were standing or moving in the traffic. They were the ones who tapped the rhythm of life in the streets and squares with their hooves.

The aim of the exhibition is to recall the history of horses in the city from the times of the Duchy of Warsaw to the outbreak of World War II, including presenting Warsaw images of horses, carriages, and drivers. To tell the story of the common fate of horses and people.

How many horses were there in the city, what their job was, what the people driving the horses looked like, where the horses were traded and, finally, what fate of horses was written in the pages of Warsaw's history, we will learn from iconographic representations, archival films, maps and documents.

The exhibition will feature images of horse-drawn carriages, trams, omnibuses, the Emergency Medical Service (the Society for Emergency Medical Aid), the Warsaw Fire Department, postal carriages, and others.

We will be able to see what horse trams, then called the "Horse Railway", looked like in the 1860s or 1890s, on what streets they ran, where they had stops; find out what was the difference between a cab driver and a sleigh driver, why a whip was not used in the Warsaw Fire Department's carriages, how fast the "Emergency Medical Service" carriages ran, what horseshoes Warsaw horses wore, what the Warsaw Ober-Policmajster punished drivers for, and many other interesting facts.

We will also present images of military riding horses from the period of the Duchy of Warsaw, the Kingdom of Poland, the Second Polish Republic, as well as racing horses, circus horses, etc.

From the interwar period, the exhibition will recall the activities of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Polish League of Friends of Animals, which dealt with combating cruelty, including cruelty towards Warsaw's cab horses and cart horses working on construction sites in the capital.

The time of World War II will be the end of our story. From this period we will present an image of the destruction of horses in the city, including during the Warsaw Uprising.

At the exhibition we will familiarize ourselves with archival materials in the form of photographs, works of art, press illustrations, leaflets, documents, maps, postcards, crafts, films and others.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an educational program: lectures on Warsaw studies and museum lessons.

Curator of the exhibition
Hanna Polanska

Details about the exhibition and the entire educational program will be available at www.muzeum.warszawa.pl

Museum of Hunting and Horsemanship
Temporary exhibition: "Horses in Warsaw in the 19th and 20th centuries"
Exhibition date: 6 March - 30 August 2015.
Exhibition opening: 5/03, 6:00 p.m.