Centre of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle is a place of creation, presentation and contemporary art documentation. It is a centre of exhibitions, visual theatre presentation, different performances, contemporary music concerts, experimental films and video art displays, creative workshops and artistic events of different branches.

Every year there are over 50 exhibitions, 300 theatrical, music and multimedia events and programs referring to the Polish contemporary literature. There is also an Artistic Library And Reading-room and the Video-Library with a place of abundance of artistic events film documentary.

The cinema located also in the Centre of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle has its Artistic Cinema regular program and is also an organizer of the cycle of special displays, international festivals and summer cinema.

Artists-in-Residence is a scholarship program created for international artist, so they could visit each other. Young artists from all over the world come here and stay in chambers located in the attic of Ujazdowski Castle to live create together.

Another field of Centre activity is a wide variety of education programs realized for schools and also addressed for big public.

There is also a restaurant Artistic Ochnia and a Cafeteria run by local artists located in monumental interiors of Ujazdowski Castle.

In 1860, when Polish land had been occupied by neighbouring nations, Warsaw laid in the district of Russian domination. It was a time of creating the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts - an association made for both artists and the society. Its main role was to help young artists, organize exhibitions and buy art pieces in order to create a national art collection. The Society gained its own place in a palace erected between 1898 and 1900, dedicated ARTIBUS ('to the art').

For many years the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts had been shaping to become a great gallery with many exhibition halls, its own library, etc. For many years it was the only place in Warsaw of promoting art, as there were neither museums nor other art galleries. Zacheta was also a place of great events, emotions and scandals (the murder of Gabriel Narutowicz - first Polish President in 1922). The building was one of the few, which hadn't been damaged during the World War II. In 1989, after many twists of fate, Zacheta was transformed into a Zacheta State Art Gallery, which refers to the first Society aims and is to promote Poland in the international arena.

In 2003 Waldemar Dabrowski, Polish Minister of Culture, named Zacheta as the National Gallery of Art.