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| Established | 7 October 1879 |
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| Location | 3 Third of May Avenue Kraków,Poland |
| Coordinates | 50°3′37″N19°55′26″E / 50.06028°N 19.92389°E /50.06028; 19.92389 |
| Type | National museum |
| Director | Prof. Dr. Habil. Andrzej Szczerski |
| Website | mnk |
TheNational Museum in Kraków (Polish:Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie), popularly abbreviated asMNK, is the largest museum inPoland.[citation needed] Established in 1879, the museum consists of 21 departments which are divided by art period: 11 galleries, 2 libraries, and 12 conservation workshops. It holds some 780,000 art objects, from classical archeology to modern art, with special focus on Polish painting.[1][2] In 2023, the museum was visited by over 1.85 million people, making it the third most-visited art museum in Poland and the 38thmost-visited art museum in the world.[3]
The Kraków National Museum was first housed at the upper floor ofthe RenaissanceSukiennice building located atthe Main Square in theKraków Old Town, now home to one of its most popular divisions in the city. The construction of the museum's contemporaryNew Main Building located at 3 Maja Street, started in 1934, but was interrupted byWorld War II. It was fully completed only in 1992, after thecollapse of the Eastern Bloc.[1] The collections – consisting of several hundred thousand items in total – are kept in big part in the Main Building where the administrative offices are located, but also in the nine of its divisions around the city.[1]
DuringWorld War II the collection waslooted by the German occupation forces.[4] After the war the Polish Government retrieved many of the works seized by the Germans. Still more than 1,000 artifacts are missing, including the 16th-centuryPieter Bruegel the Elder paintingThe Fight Between Carnival and Lent (which Polish authorities allege was stolen in 1939 by German invaders, reportedly taken away and sold in Vienna, and currently resides in the Kunsthistorisches Museum there). It was donated to the museum in 1937 by Stanisław Ursyn-Rusiecki.[4][5]
The Main Building features the newly renovated upper Gallery of the Twentieth Century Polish Art, one of the largest galleries of painting and sculpture from the late 19th century on in Poland, with most celebrated artwork byJacek Malczewski,Leon Wyczółkowski,Włodzimierz Tetmajer; an extensive collection of works byStanisław Wyspiański; and also, works by artists of the interwar and postwar periods: the Polish cubists, expressionists, colorists, the avant-garde of the 1930s, and representatives of New Directions from the 1960s.[1]
Paintings in the collection include masterpieces of theYoung Poland movement (Konrad Krzyżanowski,Olga Boznańska,Józef Pankiewicz,Władysław Ślewiński,Wacław Szymanowski,Ludwik Puget,Jan Stanisławski,Tadeusz Makowski). Polish avant-garde is represented byZbigniew Pronaszko,Leon Chwistek,Tytus Czyżewski,Stanisław Osostowicz,Eugeniusz Waniek,Jan Cybis,Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa,Artur Nacht-Samborski,Jan Szancenbach,Józef Czapski,Piotr Potworowski,Wacław Taranczewski,Juliusz Joniak.
The collection of post-war art includes works byTadeusz Kantor,Jonasz Stern,Maria Jarema,Jerzy Nowosielski,Andrzej Wróblewski,Katarzyna Kobro,Alina Szapocznikow,Maria Pinińska-Bereś,Katarzyna Kozyra. It also holds works by a wide range of influential contemporary Polish artists includingGrzegorz Sztwiertnia,Rafał Bujnowski,Wilhelm Sasnal,Jadwiga Sawicka,Leon Tarasewicz,Stanisław Rodziński,Jan Pamuła, andJan Tarasin.
The arsenal building has a vast display of militaria ranging from 12th to 20th century, including Polish armor from 16th and 17th centuries, Polishsabers, firearms, saddles andcaparisons, military uniforms from 18th to 20th 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 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.
In 2009 a new project"Museum Forum"Archived 2019-05-29 at theWayback Machine was launched to promote art in front of National Museum's Main Building. The winning design from architectMichal Bernasik was than chosen.[6]
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