MNK Czapscy

The Czapski Palace was built in 1884 according to the design of Antoni Siedek, commissioned by Count Emeryk Hutten-Czapski of the Leliwa coat of arms (1828-1896). Hutten-Czapski is considered the most outstanding Polish collector-numismatist. He was a bibliophile, a collector of prints, works of art and Polish memorabilia. During his life, he collected the most valuable collection of Polish coins, medals and banknotes that had ever been created.

After the death of Hutten-Czapski, a private museum was opened in a museum pavilion added to the palace, designed by Tadeusz Stryjeński. Later, in 1903, the museum was donated to the National Museum via the Municipality of the City of Kraków, following the decision of the collector’s wife, Elżbieta née Meyendorff (1833–1916), and their sons. The mission of the collection and its importance for Polish culture and history are reflected in the text of the inscription placed on the front of the pavilion: Monumentis Patriae naufragio ereptis (Homeland memorabilia saved from the historical storm).

Museum of Emeryk Hutten-Czapski, with a permanent exhibition, functioned until 1939, after which it was closed to the public for over 70 years. 

During this period, the Czapski Palace served as the headquarters of the National Museum in Krakow, with management and administration offices of the institution until the Main Building was used for this purpose. 

In 2013, because of the implementation of the project financed by the European Union: European Centre for Polish Numismatics, conservation, renovation and adaptation to the presentation of priceless numismatic treasures and cyclical displays of fragments of a collection of old prints and manuscripts from the MNK collection were completed.

The National Museum in Kraków’s ever-growing numismatic collection now numbers over 100,000 items, with 2,500 of the most valuable pieces on display in the palace’s permanent exhibition. A selection of unique, even legendary coins and the most beautiful medals, as well as the rarest old prints and maps, await visitors in carefully renovated spaces. The museum serves as a centre dedicated to and dealing with numismatics. Both exhibition and research projects, workshops, conferences, shows and educational activities aimed at children and adults of various levels of advancement are conducted here.

There is a beautiful garden on the premises of the MNK The Czapski branch. In the shade of over 100-year-old trees, you can admire part of the museum’s lapidary, where there are fragments of Krakow’s Gothic buildings (including the original, 14th-century, pinnace from the St. Mary’s Basilica).

In the neighbouring tenement house (at 14 Marszałka J. Piłsudskiego Street), donated to the National Museum in 1967 by the family of the Jagiellonian University professor Władysław Łoziński and expanded in 2013 with a new annexe, are housed the following departments: the Department of Old Prints and Manuscripts, the Department of Historic Photography, the MNK’s Institutional Archive, the Paper and Leather Conservation Studio, the Bookbinding Workshop, and the Laboratory for Analysis and Non-Destructive Testing of Historic Objects (LANBOZ).

The Józef Czapski Pavilion is the smallest and newest building within the MNK The Czapski complex. Located at the back of the former garden adjacent to the Łoziński Tenement House, it was dedicated to the grandson of the creator of the most valuable numismatic collection in Poland – an outstanding Polish intellectual, writer, painter and critic. The idea for constructing the Pavilion is tied to the execution of Józef Czapski’s (1896–1993) will, fulfilled in 1994. In it, he donated his archives to the National Museum in Kraków, including invaluable diaries, personal mementoes, a personal library, and documents belonging to his sister Maria Czapska (1894–1981) and other family members. The first floor of the pavilion houses a permanent exhibition about the life and work of Józef Czapski, designed according to a concept by Krystyna Zachwatowicz.