National Museum, Kraków

National Museum in Kraków
Established	1879
Location	3 May Street Kraków, Poland
Type	National museum
Director	Zofia Gołubiew
Website	www.muzeum.krakow.pl

The National Museum in Kraków (Polish: Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie), established in 1879, is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has many permanent collections around the country.

History

Kraków National Museum was first housed at the upper floor of the Renaissance Sukiennice building, now the home of one of its many divisions. The construction of the Museum's New Main Building at 3 Maja Street started in 1934, but was interrupted by World War II. It was completed only in 1992.

During World War II the collection was looted by German soldiers.^[1] After the war the Polish Government retrieved many of the works seized by the Germans. Still more than 1,000 artefacts are missing, including The Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (donated to the Museum in 1937 by Stanisław Ursyn-Rusiecki).^[1][2]

Apollo - Copernicus solar system by Stanisław Wyspiański.

The Museum collections - consisting of several hundred thousand items - are kept in big part in the Main Building but also in the nine of its divisions around the city.

Collections

The Main Building features the newly renovated upper Gallery of the Twentieth Century Polish Art, one of the largest art galleries in Poland. It contains a collection of paintings and sculptures from the late nineteenth century on, including canvases by Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczółkowski and Włodzimierz Tetmajer; an extensive collection of works by Stanisław Wyspiański; and also, works by artists of the inter-war and post-war periods: cubists, expressionists, colorists, the avant-garde of the 1930s and representatives of New Directions from the 1960s.

Militaria

The Main Building has a vast display of militaria ranging from twelfth to twentieth century, including Polish armor from sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Polish sabers, firearms, saddles and caparisons, military uniforms from eighteenth to twentieth century, military orders, medals and distinctions. The Museum holdings also include a collection of Western and Eastern European weapons. The militaria are presented at the "Arms and Colours" exhibition.

Decorative arts

Decorative arts and crafts are exhibited in the Decorative Arts and Crafts Gallery, with gold, silver and precious stone artifacts ranging from twelfth to eighteenth century; copper, pewter and iron objects, such as bowls and wrought iron chests; old furniture, musical instruments, clocks, ceramics and glass, notably stained glass from the churches of Kraków. The Museum has one of Poland's largest collections of Polish and Oriental antique rugs and carpets, as well as a collection of sixteenth to twentieth century costumes.

Museum Divisions

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, bas-relief by Veit Stoss.

• The Main Building, at 3 Maja St., featuring nearly 500 works by Poland’s leading modern artists.
• Czartoryski Museum and Arsenal, world-famous for Leonardo's painting of Lady with an Ermine. The museum has other old masters on display including dramatic landscape by Rembrandt.
• Manggha, Centre of Japanese Art and Technology
• Stanisław Wyspiański Museum
• Gallery of the 19th Century Polish Art in Sukiennice, with the collection of some of the best known paintings of the Young Poland Movement, including sculpture.
• Emeryk Hutten Czapski Museum
• Józef Mehoffer Manor
• Jan Matejko Manor in Krzesławice
• Karol Szymanowski Museum at Villa Atma in Zakopane

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Exhibition posters are available in the gift shop by the entrance.

Open every day except Mondays.

Opening hours: Tuesday, Thursday, 10am-4pm; Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, 10am-7pm; Sunday, 10am-3pm.

See also

• Culture of Kraków
• National Museum, Warsaw
• Culture of Poland

References

1. ^ ^{a b} (Polish) Monika Kuhnke. Przyczynek do historii wojennych grabieży dzieł sztuki w Polsce. Druga wojna światowa (Contribution to the history of looting in Europe. World War II).  www.zabytki.pl
2. ^ (English) Maria Romanowska-Zadrożna, Tadeusz Zadrożny (200). Wartime losses - Foreign painting. Polish Ministry of Culture, Art and National Heritage. p. 115. 

External links

Media related to National Museum in Kraków at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Art lost in Poland during World War II at Wikimedia Commons

• Krakow National Museum from Krakow-Poland.com
• National Museum in Kraków at culture.pl

Coordinates: 50°03′36″N 19°55′26″E / 50.06°N 19.92389°E / 50.06; 19.92389