Let’s celebrate the 231st anniversary of the May 3 Constitution!

May 3, 2022

On the occasion of the 231st anniversary of the adoption of the May 3 Constitution, appeals, rallies, parades, meetings, lectures and family outings will be organized throughout Poland. On the sites of cultural institutions we can also find a wide selection of films, presentations, lesson plans, articles and other educational materials presenting the history of the creation of the first in Europe and the second in the universal stat.

Royal castle in Warsaw

On the Royal Castle website There are lesson plans, films, and worksheets for students regarding the adoption of the May 3 Constitution. We also encourage you to watch short educational filmsWhich introduces the specific provisions of the first Basic Law in Europe.

azienki . royal museum

A copy of the Constitution of May 3, 1791, borrowed from the Central Archives of Warsaw Historical Records, will be made available at the Island Palace. Visitors will also be able to take part in a historical walk, see a horse parade, a cavalry display, and listen to a historical lecture.

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National Cultural Center

Prepare the National Center for Culture Animation explaining Jan Matejko’s painting “Constitution of May 3, 1791” . The film presents Mateko’s work in detail and introduces its protagonists.

Palace Museum of King Jan III Sobieski

The Museum in Wilanów in Warsaw has set up meetings at the Royal Printing House, during which visitors will learn about Wilanów Palace’s relationship to the Government Act of May 3, 1791. You will also be able to print out the introduction or any material from the May Constitution by hand.

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“Does not depend. Meeting place”

Janusz Prosinovsky Kompania will perform in the café space at azienki Królewskie at 3:00 PM. Musicians will play, dance and listen to their favorite tunes. Old Polish chants and chants, singing mazurkas and kujawiaks, wild oberek and polkas, captivating slow-moving fans, krakowiaks and boots will resonate.

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National Memorial Institute

The President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Dr. Carol Narowki, has prepared an article entitled: “The Constitution of Polish Freedom”. Together with other texts about Poland, it will soon be sent – in several languages ​​- to the media in more than 60 countries on several continents, as part of the next edition of the “We Tell Poland to the World” project.

Article text

Ratification of the Constitution of May 3

The May 3 Constitution, adopted by the Sejm for four years (1788-1792), was an attempt to save the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the First Partition (1772). It changed the state system into a hereditary monarchy, greatly limited the noble democracy and abolished the veto of Liberum.

The May 3 constitution was the first modern constitution in Europe and the second in the world. It was valid for only a year and fell after the accession of King Stanisław August Ponatovsky to the Targowica Confederation.