Description of the attraction
The Archaeological Museum in Krakow is the oldest such museum in Poland, established in 1850.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, when Poland was under occupation, the scientific community faced the acute task of preserving the country's heritage in the Polish language. In Krakow, which was under Austrian rule, the leadership applied fairly liberal measures and allowed the creation of the Scientific Society in 1816.
In 1848, the Department of Art and Archeology was created, and already in 1850 it was decided to create a Museum of Antiquities in Krakow. The museum was originally opened at the Jagiellonski Library on St Anne Street under the direction of Charles Kremer, Joseph Muzkowski, Vincent Paul and Theophilus Zebrowski. The museum moved twice: 14 years after opening and in 1967 the Senate building.
In 1891, the Archaeological Museum was adopted as the base of the Academy of Sciences. In 1955, he came under state control. At the time of the museum's creation, a call was sent to the public asking for the transfer of archaeological finds and items that can be exhibited in the new premises. One of the most valuable things in the museum is the "Zbruch Idol" statue (a Slavic stone idol found in 1848). Soon the museum began to conduct its own archaeological research and, thus, acquired many more interesting exhibits.
The first exhibition was organized in 1857, which was attended by a record number of people at that time - 16 thousand.
The permanent expositions of the museum include: Gods of Ancient Egypt, where you can see 4 sarcophagi. The same room displays numismatics, figurines, fragments of jewelry and drawings. An exposition of prehistoric ceramics tells about the appearance of ceramics on the territory of Poland. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum also hosts temporary exhibitions.
In 2000, the Archaeological Museum in Krakow celebrated its 150th anniversary.
