The fascinating history of the Royal Baths gardens as a place that influences our senses and imagination is brought closer by the temporary exhibition 'The Royal Garden Life'. It is a colourful tale of their hitherto unknown history, social and cultural role, and the daily lives of the residents and staff.

History of the Łazienki gardens
The Royal Baths are famous for their classical monuments surrounded by perfectly maintained historic gardens. There are three main gardens here - the Royal, the Romantic and the Modernist. They were created in different historical periods and differ in character and style. The exhibition will explore their hitherto untold history. Through archive photographs, works of art, everyday objects and handicrafts, we will see how garden spaces and architecture have changed. We will see how important this place is for the people of Warsaw, and how it influenced the imagination of Poles. The Łazienki gardens have appeared in literature and plays, and have been the backdrop for important meetings and events, including state events. At the exhibition, we will also see them through the prism of Mirella von Chrupek's collages, which she created as part of the project 'Eutopia. An Unusual City', as well as the artist's installations as part of the exhibition's scenography.

People of the Royal Baths
The Royal Baths is also about people and their great contribution to the development and transformation of the place. The exhibition introduces the creators and managers of the gardens, as well as hitherto unknown biographies of former Baths gardeners and gardeners. Some of them even got a taste of life in the royal residence, and we will have a glimpse of what everyday life in Łazienki used to be like. We will have a look at archival designs of classical buildings by the first architect of the Royal Baths, Tylman van Gameren. Thanks to, among others, illustrations from the historical Herbarium and books on the expenditure and maintenance of the Baths' gardens from the tsarist times, we will learn which plants were once cultivated here and how the gardens were tended. On the basis of paintings and archival photographs, specialists from the Garden Department of the Royal Łazienki Museum will recreate four historical flowerbeds, which will be on display as part of the exhibition near, among others, the Palace on the Island and the Orangery.

Among the exhibits are vintage gardening equipment, including an English mechanical mower from the first half of the 20th century, as well as a curiosity: the gnomonograph, a device for drawing sundials. In a film presented at the exhibition, today's M£K gardeners talk about their experiences at work.
Nature of the Baths' gardens

The exhibition also takes a closer look at the Baths' nature. These are plants and animals whose beauty was already appreciated by the artists of Stanisław August. Motifs of fauna and flora still adorn the palace interiors - walls, furniture and fabrics - as an inseparable element of the royal style and reflecting the love of garden aesthetics, which harmoniously links the outdoor space with the interiors of the residence.

The naturalistic part of the exhibition is complemented by a 3D visualisation of dress à la française, which will display floral textile patterns from the 17th century, as well as 18th-century jewellery with floral motifs.
Facilities, exhibition programme

The exhibition has facilities for people with disabilities, such as easy-to-use texts (ETR), audiodescription, tiffographs and other aids designed for exploring by touch. The exhibition will be accompanied by an educational space in the New Palm House, arranged with the Royal Baths Park in mind as a place conducive to respite and development through contact with art in a natural setting. The wide-ranging programme of events will include workshops, walks and meetings devoted, among other things, to the Baths' flora and fauna, landscape architecture and the role of gardens and green spaces in the modern city.