Warsaw has quietly climbed into the global cultural spotlight after the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw was ranked second in The New York Times’ prestigious “52 Places To Go This Year” list. Positioned just behind the United States’ nationwide anniversary celebrations, the museum’s placement signals a broader reappraisal of Poland’s capital as a destination of international significance.

Central to this recognition is the museum’s ambitious exhibition “The Women’s Question 1550–2025”, a sweeping survey that spans five centuries of art by women from across the globe. By bringing together nearly 200 works, the show dismantles long-standing assumptions about women’s absence from art history, addressing themes ranging from power and resistance to motherhood, war and desire. 

Curated by Alison Gingeras, the exhibition has been singled out by the New York Times as emblematic of the museum’s intellectual and curatorial confidence.

Yet the paper’s recommendation extends beyond a single institution. Warsaw itself is undergoing a visible transformation, particularly around the area around Parade Square, once a symbol of rigid post-war urban planning. 

The area is being reshaped into an open, walkable cultural quarter linking the museum with new creative spaces, including the upcoming home of TR Warszawa. 

Long regarded as functional rather than flamboyant, the city is now being reframed as one of Europe’s most dynamic capitals, one that, as the New York Times suggests, deserves to be rediscovered in 2026.

“Watch the city change before your eyes. Parade Square, a central plaza built in the 1950s for communist parades, is being transformed into a pedestrian-friendly cultural hub linking the museum with other institutions, including the new home of the avant-garde TR Warszawa theatre. For decades, Poland’s capital was seen as more practical than exciting. In 2026, it deserves a fresh look,” the newspaper writes.

You can access the full list of destinations prepared by the New York Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/travel/places-to-travel-destinations-2026.html

Photo: X/@mwzielonym

Tomasz Modrzejewski