Zinar Castle

The most important phenomena in Polish art of the 20th and 21st centuries, the history of weapons and uniforms in Poland, a craft gallery and a dozen or so large temporary exhibitions each year.

The rapidly expanding collections of the National Museum founded in 1879 required space, which was missing in Kraków at that time. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, the idea of ​​building a new building was born, which would also commemorate the many years of Poles' efforts to regain independence. Immediately after the end of World War I, in now free Poland, funds were raised for the construction of an appropriate headquarters. The construction of the building on the representative Aleja Trzech Wieszczów (Aleja Trzech Wieszczów), which had been delineated just over two decades earlier, began in 1934. Today, the National Museum in Krakow has several branches, and there are as many as three permanent galleries in the Main Building. On the ground floor there is a collection of military items - the exhibition Weapons and Colors in Poland presents the history of Polish armaments and uniforms from the Middle Ages to World War II. The Artistic Craft Gallery shows collections of fabrics, goldsmiths, glass, ceramics, furniture, musical instruments and Judaica that allow you to trace the style changes from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. The Gallery of Polish Art of the 20th and 21st centuries in a chronological and problematic arrangement presents important trends in painting, sculpture and graphics by Polish artists of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The largest temporary exhibitions of the National Museum in Krakow are organized in the rooms of variable exhibitions.