National Museum in Cracow

One of the most popular museums in Cracow is National Museum and its name sums up pretty everything. It was established in 1879 and is the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has several independent branches located in main Polish cities. The Museum contains 21 departments. They are divided by art period. In addition, there are eleven galleries, two libraries and tvelwe conservation workshops. The Museum owns 780,000 art objects from classical archeology time to modern art and it especially focuses on Polish painting.




In the beginning, The Museum was located in The Old Town, The Cloth Hall, to be exact where nowadays is located the most popular division in the city. Building the new main building started in 1934, but it was interrupted by World War II. Because of German invasion many priceless object of arts were stolen and are missing untilthe present. New main building was completed in 1992 after the fall of communistic system in Poland.

In the museum you can find many painting of the most famous Polish painters, like Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczółkowski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer and Stanislaw Wyspianski. There are also the examples of cubists, expressionists, colorists or representatives of New Direction from the 1960s. Beyoned the paintings, you can admire also the huge collection of military items and decorative arts and crafts.

The Museum organizes also temporary exhibitions of many other artists. It's open every day except of Mondays. You can check here more details.