Page 152 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Krakow

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yNational Museum in Krakow, Main Building

The modern building of the National Museum in Krakow was designed by Czesław
Boratyński, Edward Kreisler and Bolesław Schmidt in 1934 but the building was not
completed until 1989. Permanent galleries display Polish painting and sculpture of the
20th century, decorative arts, and arms and other mementos of the Polish Army.
Temporary shows are also organized here. The art collection is one of the largest in
Poland and includes works by leading Modernist artists, as well as some outstanding
works from the period between the two World Wars. While the Czartoryski Museum
undergoes renovation, Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine is on display here.

. Polonia, a Cartoon
for Stained Glass
Stanisław Wyspiański’s
cartoons for stained-glass
windows in the Cathedral
symbolically depict visions
of the past but also relate
to modern issues.

First floor
Nike of the Legions The Uniform of
This is one of Jacek Malczewski’s Józef Piłsudski
symbolic tours de force. Nike, the “The uniform of the
goddess of victory, is sitting by grey rifleman” reminds
the body of a legionary whose one of the tragic but
face resembles Józef Piłsudski. nevertheless victorious
history of the Polish
Legions between
1914 and 1917.
Audiovisual
Ground room
floor
Library and
Reading Room

Mace
This gilded “buzdygan”
mace belonged to
Grand Hetman Stanisław
Jabłonowski, who
fought in the Battle
of Vienna in 1683.

Main Education
entrance Room