Description of the attraction
The Polish Aviation Museum is a museum in Krakow located on the territory of the former airport. This is the largest aviation museum in the country: more than 200 aircraft, gliders, helicopters, a large collection of engines, some of which are the only ones in the world.
The Polish Aviation Museum operates on the territory of the former Rakovice-Czyzyny airport (one of the oldest military airfields in the world). The airport was established in 1912 in connection with the development of aviation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1917 it became one of the first post offices in Europe. In 1938, the civil international line Warsaw-Krakow-Budapest was launched. After independence, the airport lost its significance due to the development of cities in the surrounding area.
The museum was founded here in 1964. Initially, it functioned as the center of aviation technology of the Krakow flying club. In 1967 it was transferred to the Main Technical Organization and renamed into the "Museum of Flight". It became an independent museum in 1971.
Most of the exhibits donated to the museum consist of unused samples of aviation equipment. Some of the exhibits entered the museum through exchange with other museums around the world. Here you can see airplanes, rocket systems, helicopters (for example, the JK-1 Bumblebee - the only surviving copy of an experimental jet helicopter), as well as aircraft engines.
In September 2010, the museum opened a new three-story building with an area of 4000 sq. m., which from a bird's eye view looks like a propeller. Each wing has its own function. Two of them house items from the permanent exhibition, while the third contains a library, a cinema and a conference room.
