Krakow
National Museum
Muzeum
Narodowe w Krakowie - National Museum in Krakow - is Poland's biggest
museum. It's also the oldest of the nation's national museums - it was
founded in 1879. The museum can boast 10 branches, 11 galleries, 21
departments, two libraries, and 12 conservation workshops. Its diverse
collections total about 780,000 items - from art to handicrafts to
historical costumes to rare books to manuscripts to old coins and
weapons - libraries and deposits inclusive.
Departments
of the National Museum in Krakow
Possessions
of the museum have been grouped into 21 sections organized according
to both the character and the age of items and called departments.
1st
Department /Dzial I/. The Polish Painting and Sculpture before
1764.
Paintings and sculptures created on Polish soil from the Middle Ages
through the 18th century.
2nd
Department /Dzial II/. The Modern Polish Painting and Sculpture.
Works by the outstanding Polish artists of the late 18th century and
the 19th century.
3rd
Department /Dzial III/. Prints, Drawings and Watercolours.
4th
Department /Dzial IV/. Decorative Art and Material Culture.
Artifacts of the Polish as well as foreign origin, the latter often
associated with Poland.
5th
Department /Dzial V/. Military Collections.
Some 11,000 items, mostly various types of weapons and armor.
6th
Department /Dzial VI/. Oriental Art.
7th
Department /Dzial VII/. Numismatics Collection.
Coins, including a fine collection of antique Greek, Roman and
Byzantine coinage, as well as medals and banknotes, Polish and
foreign.
8th
Department /Dzial VIII/. Old Prints and Manuscripts.
Superb collection of 26,000-plus volumes.
9th
Department /Dzial IX/. Jan Matejko's Collections.
Objects exhibited and stored in the Jan Matejko House at 41
Florianska street, a branch of the National Museum in Krakow devoted
to the life and works of the 19th-century Polish painter Jan Matejko.
10th
Department /Dzial X/. Collections of the Karol Szymanowski
Museum in Villa Atma in Zakopane.
Holdings of the Krakow National Museum’s branch in Zakopane
devoted to the life and works of Karol Szymanowski, Poland’s
outstanding composer of classical music of the first half of the 20th
century. They include his manuscripts, a collection of book, letters,
and documents as well as period furniture, etc.
11th
Department /Dzial XI/. Ancient Art.
Collections of antiquities, mostly of the Egyptian, classical Greek,
Etruscan, and Roman origin.
12th
Department /Dzial XII/. European Painting and Sculpture.
Western European art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
13th
Department /Dzial XIII/. European Decorative Art.
Collections of the Western European finest handicrafts, furniture,
china, etc.
14th
Department /Dzial XIV/. The Armory.
Collections of ancient weapons and armor, Polish and other European as
well as oriental, including items once owned by Poland’s kings and
famous military commanders.
15th
Department /Dzial XV/. Graphic Art Room.
Prints, drawings, architectural designs, and printing plates in the
collection of The Czartoryskis Museum.
16th
Department /Dzial XVI/. The Czartoryskis Library.
225,000-plus volumes from incunabula to ancient prints to old maps.
17th
Department /Dzial XVII/. The Czartoryskis Archives and
Collection of Manuscripts.
Some 13,000 original documents and manuscripts of historical figures
concerning Poland and other European countries, also the USA.
18th
Department /Dzial XVIII/. Orthodox Church Art.
Old icons and other church art of the Orthodox Church, mostly from the
southeastern part of Poland, the rest from Russia and the Balkans.
19th
Department /Dzial XIX/. Textiles.
Over 20,000 pieces of clothing and fabric, including a superb
collection of chasubles and other church vestments from the early 14th
century on.
20th
Department /Dzial XX/. Old Photography.
Collection of Polish and foreign photos from years 1850 to 1945
consists mostly of prints – also on such materials as leather and
oilcloth – plus plates and daguerreotypes and totals over 80,000
items,
21st
Department /Dzial XXI/. Studio of the Iconography of
Krakow.
9,000-plus views of Krakow – panoramas of the city, its streets,
squares, landmarks, exteriors and interiors of buildings.
Note:
Only part of the Krakow National Museum's collections is permanently
displayed in any of its ten branches, some are available only to
scholars, some are exhibited from time to time, and many of the
museum's possessions have never been shown to the public.
Branches
of the Krakow National Museum
The
Main Building / Gmach Glowny
at 1 Al. 3 Maja street
and Mickiewicza avenue.
Postal address: al. 3 Maja 1,
30-062 Krakow, Poland. Phone (+48) 122955600, email sekretariat@muz-nar.krakow.pl
or dyrekcja@muz-nar.krakow.pl
The
Main Building is the Krakow National Museum's official seat and its
principal venue for temporary art shows. Also, it contains three
permanent exhibitions
-
Arms
and Colours in Poland
-
Gallery
of Decorative Art
-
The
20th-Century Polish Art
The
main building of the National Museum in Krakow is closed on Mondays. Open Sunday from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. and on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Free
admission on Sundays.
at 19 Sw. Jana street and
Pijarska street.
Postal address: ul. sw. Jana 19, 31-017 Krakow, Poland. Phone (+48)
124225566 or 124212956, fax: (+48) 122926464, email muz-czart@muzeum.krakow.pl
The
museum holds four permanent exhibitions
Temporary exhibitions
take place in the nearby building of the
16th-century Arsenal at 8 Pijarska street.
The
Princes Czartoryski Museum undergoes remodeling in years 2010, 2011,
and 2012 or possibly longer. After reopening it's expected to be organized
along new lines.
Palace
of Bishop Erasmus Ciolek / Palac Biskupa Erazma Ciolka
at 17 Kanonicza
street.
Postal
address: ul. Kanonicza 17, Krakow, Poland. Phone (+48) 124291558 and 12424937.
The
museum consists of two permanent exhibitions
Open
Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Mondays.
Free
admission on Sundays.
Gallery
of the 19th-cetury Polish Art / Galeria Sztuki Polskiej XIX
wieku.
in the Cloth Hall
amid the Grand Square
Postal address: Sukiennice, Rynek
Glowny 1, 31-011 Krakow, Poland.
Phone (+48) 124244600.
Situated
on the upper
floors the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), in
the middle of the Old Town’s central square, the newly refurbished
cradle of the National
Museum in Krakow retains the precious nineteen-century
atmosphere besides modern facilities. Its collection consists of the best paintings of Poland’s top artists
of the late
18th century till the end of the 19th century, i.e. from the enlightenment to the
romanticism to realism to impressionism and symbolism.
Open
from noon to 8 p.m. every day except Mondays when the museum is
closed.
Roof
terrace is accessible every day between noon and 10 p.m.
Stanislaw
Wyspianski Museum / Muzeum Stanislawa Wyspianskiego
at
11 Szczepanska street and Plac Szczepanski square.
Postal
address: ul. Szczepanska 11, 31-011 Krakow, Poland. Phone (+48)
122928183 ext. 84 or 85, also (+48) 124227021, fax (+48) 122928189,
e-mail muz.sw@poland.com
The museum's main permanent exhibition shows life and works of
Stanislaw Wyspianski Poland's great painter, designer, dramatist, and
poet, born 1869. Plus it holds a show pertaining to Feliks 'Manggha'
Jasienski, an outstanding collector of the late 19th-century Polish
and European art and Oriental handcrafts. The museum is also a venue
for temporary exhibitions.
Closed on Mondays. Open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Free
admission on Sundays.
House
of Jan Matejko / Dom Jana Matejki
at 41 Florianska street.
Postal
address: ul.
Florianska 41, 31-019 Krakow, Poland. Phone (+ 48) 124225926 or
124230408, fax (+48) 122921005, email dommatejki@muz-nar.krakow.pl
Biographical
museum of the 19th-century Polish great painter Jan Matejko.
Closed on Mondays. Open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Free
admission on Sundays.
House
and Garden of Jozef
Mehoffer / Dom i
Ogrod Jozefa Mehoffera
at 26 Krupnicza street.
Postal
address: ul. Krupnicza 26, 31-123 Krakow,
Poland. Phone (+48) 124211143 or 122926448.
Biographical museum of the noted Polish painter, born 1869, in the house he bought in the
1930s and where he lived till death in 1946.
Closed on Mondays. Open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Free
admission on Sundays.
Emeryk
Hutten-Czapski Museum / Muzeum Emeryka Hutten-Czapskiego
at
12 Pilsudskiego street.
Postal
address: ul. Piłsudskiego 12, 31-109
Krakow, Poland. Phone (+48) 122926440 or 122926441 or 124222733.
The
museum holds collections of coins,
banknotes, and medals, old prints, manuscripts, Polish memorabilia,
and works of decorative arts, the bulk of them amassed by collector
Emeryk Hutten-Czapski in the second half of the 19th century. Its
collections are accessible
to researchers only.
Karol
Szymanowski Museum in the Villa Atma in Zakopane / Muzeum im. Karola
Szymanowskiego w Willi 'Atma' w Zakopanem
at
19 Kasprusie street in the town of Zakopane, 120 kilometers south of
Krakow.
Postal
address: ul. Kasprusie 19, 34-500 Zakopane,
Poland. Phone/fax (+48) 182013493, email atmamuzeum@wp.pl
Biographical
museum dedicated to life and music of composer Karol Szymanowski.
Closed
on Mondays. Open Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday 10
a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free
admission on Sundays.
The
Czartoryski Library / Biblioteka Czartoryskich
at
17 Sw. Marka street.
Postal
address: ul. sw. Marka 17, 31-018 Krakow,
Poland. Phone (+48) 124221172 or 124224079, e-mail bczart@poczta.onet.pl
(Department of Manuscripts) and bczart@tlen.pl (Department of
Prints).
Open
on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. plus
on Saturdays from a.m. to 1:45 p.m.
History
of the National Museum in Krakow
National
Museum was founded by the City Council in Krakow in 1879 as Poland's
first national institution dedicated to collecting and exhibiting fine
arts. Initially it was situated in the upper rooms of the Cloth Hall
(Sukiennice)
standing in the middle of Krakow’s Rynek Glowny central
square. Now
the same building houses the Gallery of the 19th-cetury Polish Art, a
branch of the Krakow National Museum.
In
the ensuing decades the National Museum in Krakow grew into the
country’s by far biggest museum, mostly thanks to generous donations
of wealthy Poles who often gave it entire collections and sometimes
buildings to hold them. At first the museum concentrated on gathering
the then contemporary Polish art but as early as the early 20th
century it adopted a wide scope of activity including handcrafts,
foreign art, antiquities, historical memorabilia, books, and
coins.
In
1950 the Krakow National Museum incorporated the Princes Czartoryski
Museum together with its superb collections and the Czartoryski
Library and Archives. In 1991 they were formally handed over to a
charity founded by Adam Karol Czartoryski, the heir of their former
owners, but by mutual arrangement the National Museum in Krakow has
remained their curator and guardian.
Taking
photos and videotaping in the Krakow National Museum.
Visitors
may photograph and videotape free of charge at every exhibition but
the use of flash is prohibited.
Official
website of the National Museum in Krakow
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