MNK Matejko

Floriańska Street in Krakow is one of the fragments of the so-called Royal Road, running from the Wawel Castle to the north of the country. Due to the importance of this route, the development of the street already existed in the Middle Ages. The tenement house at Floriańska 41 was built in the 16th century and was rebuilt several times. The building took its final form in the 1870s, designed by architect Tomasz Pryliński in collaboration with Jan Matejko, the owner of the house, who was then a well-known painter, associated with the historicism movement and the Kraków School of Fine Arts (later the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków). 

Jan Matejko was born, lived and died in the family home at Floriańska Street. The walls of the tenement house witnessed his work, family life and social activity, in particular related to the research and protection of historical heritage. Among the vast collection of memorabilia left by the artist, there is a collection of antiquities from various periods and graphic documentation of historical sites and objects, often treated by the painter as sketches for large-format canvases, including those currently displayed in the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at the Sukiennice.

Following the artist’s death, the Society bearing his name was established, aiming to honour the renowned painter by founding a biographical museum dedicated to him. With great effort, exhibits related to the figure of Jan Matejko and his family were gathered through purchases and donations in a house bought from the family, and were first presented to the public in 1898, just five years after the painter’s death. In 1904, the Jan Matejko Society transferred the biographical museum, which it created, under the administration of the National Museum in Krakow. Today, the collection of the Jan Matejko House comprises about 6,000 exhibits.

They contain objects of everyday use and memorabilia of the artist and his family: wife Teodora Matejkowa née Giebułtowska (1846-1896), children: Tadeusz (1865-1911), Helena Unierzyskia (1867-1932), Beata Kirchmayerowa (1869-1926), Jerzy (1873-1927) and Regina (1878-1878). The collections include letters, official documents, jubilee memorabilia, tributes, and, above all, oil and drawing works, objects from the artist’s collection that Matejko gathered throughout his life, works by other artists, family photographs and photographs of the master’s paintings taken in the 19th century, as well as his collection of books and sheet music.

MNK The Matejko popularises unknown aspects of the artist’s life and work, as well as his rich collections of crafts, textiles and military equipment. This is done through: permanent exhibition, temporary exhibitions in the department and interdisciplinary cooperation with museum centres in Poland and abroad.

The collections of Jan Matejko contain exhibits related to the artist and his work. For the most part, it is a collection of decorative art, textiles, weapons, and ethnographic collections that the artist has accumulated throughout his life.