Special Prague train marks Warhol museum reopening

A special overnight train from Prague will take passengers directly to Andy Warhol’s family hometown Friday as Slovakia reopens its €15.9 million museum.

Andy Warhol's connection to eastern Slovakia is getting a new showcase this week as the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce reopens after a three-year renovation.

To mark the reopening, Slovak rail operator ZSSK is exceptionally extending its regular Prague–Humenné overnight train to Medzilaborce on Friday, Sept. 4. The service will temporarily carry the name Slovakia Pop-Art.

The route is a fitting one for a museum built around Warhol's family history. The artist was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh in 1928, but both of his parents, Andrej and Júlia Warholová, came from Miková, a small village near Medzilaborce in what is now northeastern Slovakia

The family was part of the region's Rusyn community, and that Eastern European heritage remained an important part of Warhol's story. His mother later joined him in New York, where she lived with her son and produced drawings of her own.

“His story also echoes the fates of hundreds of thousands of Slovaks who set out to travel the world, many of whom achieved prominent positions,” President Peter Pellegrini said at the reopening. He described the renovated museum as a “21st-century museum.”

The museum was established in 1991, four years after Warhol’s death, with help from his brothers John and Paul. Its opening also established a Prague–Medzilaborce connection. According to ZSSK, a special train was dispatched from Prague to Medzilaborce that October for an exhibition titled Andy Warhol in His Parents’ Hometown. More than 2,000 people visited the exhibition.

Thirty-five years later, the museum is reopening with a major overhaul costing EUR 15.9 million. The renovation has modernized its exhibition and educational spaces and added interactive and digital elements, including new visitor facilities and space for events. 

The museum is Europe’s only museum dedicated to Warhol. Its collection now includes more than 400 original works by the artist and around 120 works by other Pop Art and contemporary artists, including Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Indiana and Banksy. Warhol’s Walkman, sunglasses, and other personal belongings offer a glimpse beyond the familiar Campbell’s soup cans and Marilyn Monroe images.

The museum will be free to enter on Friday, Sept. 4, when its reopening program includes cultural events and activities. From Sept. 5, passengers with qualifying ZSSK tickets can receive 20 percent off museum admission.

The normal Prague–Humenné journey takes about 13 hours and 14 minutes, leaving Prague at 10:16 p.m. from the main station and arriving in Humenné at 10:29 a.m. the following day. The special Medzilaborce extension adds the final stretch beyond Humenné.