The Archaeological Museum of Kraków ( pl, Muzeum Archeologiczne w Krakowie) is a historic museum in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

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 ...

. It was established in 1850.

History

The Archaeological Museum in Kraków is the oldest archaeological museum in Poland. It was founded as the Muzeum of Antiquity, by a group of intellectuals and academics who belonged to the Kraków Scientific Society (''Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie'', TNK) during the Partitions of Poland. The foreign rule in the

Austrian Partition The Austrian Partition ( pl, zabór austriacki) comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partitions were conduct ...

prohibited the existence of Polish patriotic organizations except for the learning societies like the TNK; which in turn, set up a museum as centre of Polish socio-cultural activities. The TNK society which sponsored the museum foundation, existed in Kraków since 1816. It has formed its own Division of Art and Archeology in 1848. The founding act was signed on 18 February 1850 by the Committee which included such notable personalities as Director of the

Jagiellonian Library Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...

, Józef Muczkowski (President of the Committee), Karol Kremer (member of the Sejm of the

Free City of Kraków Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

: ''Rzeczypospolita Krakowska''),

Wincenty Pol Wincenty Pol (20 April 1807 – 2 December 1872) was a Polish poet and geographer. Life Pol was born in Lublin (then in Galicia), to Franz Pohl (or Poll), a German in the Austrian service, and his wife Eleonora Longchamps de Berier, from a Fre ...

(Professor UJ, poet and explorer), as well as Teofil Żebrawski (architect, city inspector). A series of documents including the museum mission statement were written for the administration, specifying the priority of the museum in obtaining archaeological finds from private donors. The first museum exhibit opened in 1857 at the Lubomirski Palace at 17 św. Jana Street. The collection originated mostly from private donations by numerous noble Polish families, including the statue of

Zbruch Idol The Zbruch Idol, Sviatovid (''Worldseer'', pl, Światowid ze Zbrucza, uk, Збручанський ідол) is a 9th-century sculpture, more precisely an example of a bałwan, and one of the few monuments of pre-Christian Slavic beliefs (acco ...

(''Światowid ze Zbrucza''), which is the symbol of the museum. The museum is divided into five major permanent exhibitions: Gods of the Ancient Egypt, Prehistoric Pottery, The Garden of Ceramics, The Prehistory and Early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

of Lesser Poland, and The Carts of Bronocice, which includes the

Bronocice Pot The Bronocice pot is a ceramic vase incised with one of the earliest known depictions of what may be a wheeled vehicle. It was discovered in the village of Bronocice near the Nidzica River in Poland. Attributed to the Funnelbeaker archaeologi ...

(3635–3370 BC) - a

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

vase incised with the earliest known image of what may be a wheeled vehicle.

Gallery

File:Garden at the Archeological Museum of Krakow.jpg, Museum Gardens with a view of the

Wawel Hill The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

File:0854 Ein Krug aus Bronocice, 3.550 v. Chr..JPG, The

File:Muzeum Archeologiczne Kraków2.JPG, Egyptian

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

File:O98 Idol von Sbrutsch mit Darstellung von Unterwelt, Erde und des Himmels, zirka 10. Jh. n. Chr..JPG, The

File:Muzeum Archeologiczne Kraków.JPG, Interior of the museum File:000 Ostgotische Funde (eine Gruppe aus Greutungen) ausserhalb des Ostgotenreiches in der Raum zwischen Don und Dnjepr in der Zeit vom 2 bis zum 5. Jahrhundert.JPG,

Ostrogothic The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

pottery File:072 Wikingerschwert (9.-10. Jh.) aus dem Archäologische Museum Krakau..JPG,

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

swords

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological Museum of Krakow Museums in Kraków Museums established in 1850 Archaeological museums in Poland Registered museums in Poland 1850 establishments in Europe

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links