tel. +48 12 433 58 14
+48 12 433 58 13
+48 12 433 58 14
+48 12 433 58 14
In view of the time it takes us to prepare materials for use in the reading room, we request that you confirm your visit by e-mail or telephone at least one day in advance.
The history of the National Museum in Krakow Archives does not go back as far as 1879, when the institution itself was founded; in fact, it is nearly a century shorter.
The first information on where these documents were held is to be found in the record of an official inspection conducted by the State Archives in December 1965. In this report, we read that the documents were segregated, divided up by thematic scope. The body of files relating to acquisition of collections, archival searches, loans of museum holdings, and records on holdings was stored in the Inventories Office (currently the Chief Inventory Officer’s Department). Post-war administrative files, however, were kept in the offices and workrooms.
The historically valuable financial and accounting documentation, personnel files, and some of the technical and operations papers relating to the museum’s work up to the outbreak of World War II were initially stored in one of the rooms in the Main Building and later removed to the Czapski Palace to form the core of the document repository that later became known as the Administrative Archives.
compiled by: Diana Błońska – NNK Archives
The Archives of the History of the National Museum in Krakow were established in 1973 in order to gather the dispersed documentation in one place. In the early years, the main emphasis was placed on the consolidation of the historical resources – records created until 1950. Then the collection grew through the acquisition of the most precious records, the documentation of the activities of the National Museum in Krakow under the directorship of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (1880-1900) and his successor – Feliks Kopera (1901-1950).
Currently, the NMK Archives comprise the entire documentation relating to the activities of the National Museum in Krakow since its inception up to the present. Apart from the administrative files, these materials refer to the organization of exhibitions and issues related to the storage of museum exhibits. The file documentation is supplemented with posters and banners, press clippings, photographs, audio and video recordings, printed exhibition catalogues, guidebooks, brochures and exhibition visitors’ books that allow for a comprehensive insight into the institution’s activities.
The NMK Archives also preserve the legacy of the employees of the National Museum in Krakow as well as the documents of the institution and organizations related to it. In addition, as a result of projects carried out by the Artists’ Archives and Numismatic Archives, the NMK Archives also comprise the legacy of artists and collectors. The most valuable collections preserved at the NMK Archives are the already mentioned documents created by the Museum office before World War II and immediately after it, the collection of newspaper clippings collected since 1879, the pre-war files of the Polish Association of Museums and the legacy of Feliks Jasieński.
Currently, the Archives holdings number approximately 300 linear meters of files and are still growing.
Text by Diana Błońska
Piłsudskiego Str. 14 (Łozińscy Tenement)
2nd Floor, room number 21
30-109 Kraków
tel. +49 12 62 57 312
open from Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 2.30 p.m.
In view of the time it takes us to prepare materials for use in the reading room, we request that you confirm your visit by e-mail or telephone at least one day in advance.
Everyone interested in first and/or second degree internship in the Archives of the National Museum in Krakow is requested to:
The student training programme at the NMK Archives includes archival internship in cooperation with:
