Museum of John Paul II Collection

The John Paul II Collection Museum in Warsaw holds one of the most significant collections of European art in the Polish capital. It goes back to the donation of the Polish-American couple Janina and Zbigniew Porczynski, who in the 1980s assembled over 450 paintings by old masters and French impressionists and dedicated them to Pope John Paul II. The collection is housed in the monumental former stock exchange and national bank building on Plac Bankowy, a major 19th-century neoclassical work in Warsaw. The display includes works from the schools of Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck as well as paintings by Renoir and Pissarro. The attribution of individual pieces has been disputed for years, which makes the visit both fascinating and ambivalent. The grand hall building alone is worth the detour.