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 11 branches, 11 galleries, 21 departments, two
libraries, and 12 conservation workshops. Its diverse collections
total about 800,000 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Closed on Mondays.
Opening hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10
a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

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.

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. Otherwise a regular admission fee is
9 zloties (PLN) and the ticket allows to visit the Jozef Czapski
Pavilion as well.

The modern building in
the backyard of the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum shows the life
and art of Polish artist and writer Jozef Czapski (born 1896, died
1993). The Pavilion is also a venue for temporary shows of modern
art.

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. Otherwise a regular admission fee is
9 zloties (PLN) and the ticket allows to see the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski
Museum as well.

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 and tripods is prohibited.