The National Museum in Gdańsk ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku), established in 1972 in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

(although the history goes back the third quarter of 19th century), is one of the main branches of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

's national museum system.

History

Its main location is in the old late-

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

, which has been used to house exhibits since the end of the 19th century. During that period it was known as ''Danziger Stadtmuseum'', which held a sizeable collection of historical works of art. In 1884, the collection was enlarged with exhibits from the ''Danziger Kunstgewerbemuseum'' when the two institutions merged. The core of the Museum's collection constitutes the collection of Jacob Kabrun, which includes several thousand pictures, drawings and prints by European masters from the end of the fifteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. After the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, 65% of the main building of the museum was destroyed and much of the museum's collections were lost, including all the numismatic exhibits as well as works of art from the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

. Also the library and some of the museum's records were lost or destroyed. The first post-war exhibition was opened in 1948 and the museum changed its name to "Pomeranian Museum in Gdańsk". In 1956, Hans Memling's masterpiece ''

Last Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

'' returned to Gdańsk as well as part of the collections of paintings and prints. Originally the museum was located in the Opatów Palace in

Oliwa Oliwa ( la, Oliva; csb, Òlëwa; german: Oliva) is a northern district of the city of Gdańsk, Poland. From east it borders Przymorze and Żabianka, from the north Sopot and from the south with the districts of Strzyża, VII Dwór and Brętow ...

and constituted the

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

department of the museum. Since 1989, the palace houses the museum's collection of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

. A number of other museums were established from the rich collections of the Pomeranian Museum, which include: National Maritime Museum (1960), the Archeological Museum (1962) and the Gdańsk Historical Museum (1971). In 1972, it was renamed as the National Museum in Gdańsk. In 2017, the museum attracted 162,137 visitors.

Departments

Currently the museum has seven departments: *Department of Ancient Art, contains Hans Memling's ''

'' *Department of Modern Art, in the Opatów Palace in Oliwa *Ethnography Department, in the ("Abbot's Granary") *

Green Gate The Green Gate ( pl, Brama Zielona, german: former Koggentor, now Grünes Tor) in Gdańsk, Poland, is one of the city's most notable tourist attractions. It is situated between Long Market (''Długi Targ'') and the River Motława. History W ...

Department *Gdańsk Photography Gallery *Museum of the

National Anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

Będomin Będomin ( csb, Bãdomino) is a Kashubian village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowa Karczma, within Kościerzyna County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately west of Nowa Karczma, east of Kościerzyna ...

*Museum of

Szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

Traditions in

Waplewo Wielkie Waplewo Wielkie is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stary Targ, within Sztum County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately east of Stary Targ, east of Sztum, and south-east of the regional capital ...

Museum directors

*Jan Chranicki (1948-1970) *Janusz Wąsowicz (1970-1974) *Jan Przała (1974-1980) *Józef Kuszewski (1980-1983) *Teresa Milewska (1983-1988) *Tadeusz Piaskowski (1988-2004) *Wojciech Bonisławski (2004-2019) *Jacek Friedrich (2020)

Gallery

External links

References