The National Museum in Krakow was established by a resolution of the Krakow City Council on October 7, 1879. Its creation was linked to the opening of the newly renovated Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) – the former merchant stalls on the Main Market Square – to the public. The cause captivated the Galician bourgeoisie, social activists, professors, collectors, and patrons of the arts. The celebrations accompanying this event were graced by a gift from Henryk Siemiradzki: the monumental painting Nero’s Torches, also known as Christian Candlesticks. This work, entered the inventory as item number one, was to become the foundation of a magnificent collection. Following Siemiradzki’s example, artists such as Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz (creator of the Portrait of Helena Modrzejewska), Juliusz Kossak, Hipolit Lipiński, Leopold Löffler, Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Aleksander Mroczkowski, Kazimierz Pochwalski, and Witold Pruszkowski, among others, donated their works to the Committee for the Establishment of the National Museum. 19th- and 20th-century art constitutes a large and significant part of the institution’s collection, accumulated since its inception. Thanks to donations and purchases from living artists, the collection featured examples of contemporary art from the very beginning. Over its more than 140 years of activity, the Museum has undergone numerous organizational changes – established through a surge of civic engagement in the second half of the 19th century as a municipal government entity, today it holds the status of a national cultural institution.
The NMK collections grew significantly in the first half of the 20th century, thanks to the generosity of collectors, including Feliks Manggha-Jasieński and Erazm Barącz, who donated many works of Young Poland graphic art, painting, and sculpture. Thanks to bequests from enthusiasts such as Emeryk Hutten-Czapski, the Museum possesses unique, specialized assemblages of old numismatics and early printed books, militaria, and decorative arts. A significant part of the holdings is the currently developed collection of contemporary art, over time expanded to include objects related to the history of modern architecture and design. The flagship artists are creators from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries: Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, Józef Chełmoński, Julian Fałat, Jan Matejko, Władysław Podkowiński, and many others. The works of successive generations of outstanding artists, acquired for the collections and presented in the NMK galleries, form the canon of Polish art history. The collection encompasses original sets of memorabilia of important 19th- and 20th-century artists, constituting the core of biographical exhibitions at the Jan Matejko House, the Józef Mehoffer House, the Stanisław Wyspiański Museum, and Karol Szymanowski’s “Atma” villa. A unique assemblage, of key importance to Polish museology, is the Princes Czartoryski Collection, exhibited in the palace and the arsenal, a fragment of the historical city walls. It is also a place where one can view the most valuable works of European art in Poland: Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci and Landscape with the Good Samaritan by Rembrandt van Rijn.
The position of the director of the National Museum in Krakow has been held by: Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (1883–1900), Teodor Nieczuja-Ziemięcki (1900), Feliks Kopera (1901–1939), Tadeusz Dobrowolski (1950–1956), Adam Bochnak (1957–1962), Jerzy Banach (1963–1974), Tadeusz Chruścicki (1974–1985 and 1989–2000), Jadwiga Bezwińska (1985–1986), Kazimierz Nowacki (1986–1989), Zofia Gołubiew (2000–2015), Andrzej Betlej (2016–2019), and since 2020, this function has been performed by Andrzej Szczerski. The staff of the NMK has included: Zofia Alber, Helena Blum, Zbigniew Bocheński, Stefania Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska, Julian Pagaczewski, Marek Rostworowski, Tadeusz Szydłowski, Zdzisław Żygulski Jr., and others—individuals to whom we owe numerous exhibitions and books dedicated to Polish art.
The National Museum in Krakow has been the venue for exhibitions that were in a class of their own, remembered by audiences and critics, significant for art historical research, and pioneering in many respects. Such events certainly include “Polaków portret własny” (The Poles’ Self-Portrait), a monumental exhibition prepared according to a scenario by Marek Rostworowski.
A significant contribution by the museum professionals of the National Museum in Krakow to the state of research on Polish art are the numerous publications accompanying the monographic and thematic exhibitions they prepare, which present the achievements of the most important artists. Over the recent decades, the works of artists such as Olga Boznańska, Wojciech Fangor, Aleksander and Maksymilian Gierymski, Maurycy Gottlieb, Gustaw Gwozdecki, Jan Hrynkowski, Jan Matejko, Józef Mehoffer, Witold Pruszkowski, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Kazimierz Sichulski, Leon Wyczółkowski, Andrzej Wróblewski, Franciszek and Stanisław Wyspiański, among others, have been the subject of such studies. A recurring and popular theme of exhibitions at the NMK is Japanese graphic art, which occupies a significant place in the collection thanks to the inclusion of the collections of Feliks Jasieński, Erazm Barącz, and Jadwiga Mehofferowa.
The scientific departments of the NMK consist of over a dozen curatorial offices and eleven conservation laboratories, specializing in the care of objects made using various techniques and materials. The research conducted by the team at the National Museum in Krakow concerns the works and biographies of artists. An important task is the cataloging of previously uncatalogued objects, including numerous examples of decorative arts and militaria, which form one of the most complete collections in Poland. In addition to provenance and historical research, an important role is played by analyses, measurements, technical documentation, conservation, and preventive conservation.
