Museums and galleries in Kraków

Museums and galleries in Kraków

1. SeeOld Town

   Archeological Museum

   Muzeum Archeologiczne

   Pre and protohistoric human activities and artefacts around the region. Takes about an hour to tour the entire museum.

   Opening hours vary, closed Sat·12 zł, reduced 8 zł (free on Tu)

2. SeeWest

   Botanic Garden of Jagiellonian University

   Extensive peaceful gardens (closed winter), ticket includes a small museum.

   April–Oct daily 09:00-21:00·Adult 7 zł, conc 4 zł

3. SeeWest

   Bronisław Chromy Sculpture Gallery

   This collection of offbeat modern sculpture is in Decius Park just north of the Villa, both outdoor and within the gallery. Chromy (1925-2017) created many public sculptures around the city, including Smok the dragon at the foot of Wawel.

   Mon-Fri 15:00-18:00, Sat Sun 11:00-18:00

4. SeeOld Town

   Bunker of Art

   Bunkier Sztuki

   Gallery of contemporary art near Main Square. Also a book shop and nice cafe in the "bunker".

   Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00·10 zł, reduced 5 zł; art students can try to get in for free

5. DrinkOld Town

   Cafe Bunkier

   Big patio cafe open to Planty park, next to Bunkier Sztuki gallery of contemporary art.

   Daily 09:00-01:00

6. SeeKazimierz

   Chewra Thilim Synagogue

   HEVRE Bar

   Historically a prayer house, today an exhibition space and the location of HEVRE Bar. Features rare, well-preserved polychrome.

7. SeeOld Town

   Cloth Hall

   Sukiennice

   In the centre of the square, this large trading hall was built in Gothic style in the 14th century and rebuilt in Renaissance style in the 16th. The ground floor is an arcade filled with souvenir shops: this is open 24 hours even when the shops are closed. Upstairs is the Gallery of 19th C Polish Art, a branch of the National Museum. The Enlightenment, Romanticism, early Nationalism, Realism and Impressionism are the main styles of the permanent collection; plus rotating exhibitions. There are also extensive underground galleries with changing exhibitions, enquire at the upstairs gallery.

   Gallery Tue-Fri 09:00-17:00, Sat 10:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-16:00·Gallery adult 25 zł, conc 15 zł, free on Sun

8. SeeOld Town

   Collegium Maius

   This is the oldest part of the university, built 1364-1400 in Gothic style. It has a beautiful courtyard and chambers such as the Assembly Hall and stuba communis - the professors' common room. Niclaus Copernicus, Jan III Sobieski, and John Paul II all studied here. In its museum are the scientific instruments of Copernicus, the first globe to depict America, and many other medieval artefacts. Oxygen was first liquified in a stable condition here in 1883.

9. SeeKazimierz

   Galicia Jewish Museum

   Houses an exhibition of photographs with explanations in Polish and English. These are recent photographs of locations around Poland associated with the Holocaust. Some are places where massacres occurred; most show old synagogues and Jewish cemeteries with comments about how respectfully (or not) these places are now preserved. The museum also has a bookstore and coffee shop and arranges coach trips to Auschwitz.

   Daily 10:00-18:00 Closed on Yom Kippur and Christmas Day·Tickets are 15 zł or 8 zł with a student discount

10. SeeSouth

    Gallery Starmach

    Former Zucker Synagogue built in 1880s. Today a gallery showing well-known Polish artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tadeusz Kantor or Jerzy Nowosielski.

    Mon-Fri 11:00 - 18:00

11. SeeOld Town

    Jan Matejko House

    Dom Jana Matejki

    Atelier of the well known painter Matejko (1838-1893), run by National Museum.

    Tue-Fri 09:00-16:00, Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 10:00-16:00·15 zł, 10 zł reduced, free Sunday

12. SeeEast

    Jan Matejko Manor

    Dworek Jana Matejki

    Summer residence of one of the most well known Polish artists - Jan Matejko. Today a museum.

    Tue-Sun 09:00—20:00, Mon closed·7 zł

13. SeeEast

    Krakow Historical Museum - The History of Nowa Huta Quarter

    Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa - Dzieje Nowej Huty

    Shows temporary exhibitions about the history of Nowa Huta before and after 1949.

    Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00

14. SeeOld Town

    Krzysztofory Palace

    Pałac Krzysztofory

    The main building. Usual historical museum stuff: armour, swords, etc. Every year after Christmas there is an exhibition concerning local tradition: Krakow szopka (characteristic nativity scene where historical buildings of Kraków are used as backdrop for the Nativity of Jesus.)

15. SeeSouth

    MOCAK

    Museum Of Contemporary Art Krakow

    One of the newest museums in Krakow, located in renovated buildings belonging to the former Schindler’s Factory, houses a permanent collection and temporary exhibitions of modern art, sometimes the 'I don't get it' kind. Inside a bookstore with albums on not only Polish art and a cafeteria.

    Tue-Sun 11:00-19:00, Mon closed·20 zł, reduced 10 zł, Tuesdays free

16. SeeKazimierz

    Museum of City Engineering

    Muzeum Inżynierii Miejskiej

    It is in old tram sheds and on the grounds of a former gasworks and power plant. It has exhibitions on the history of Polish automotive, public transportation, radio and television, household and office appliances industries. The museum is well prepared for younger visitors.

    Mondays closed·5 - 8 zł, Tuesdays free

17. SeeWest

    Museum of Photography Strzelnica branch

    Muzeum Fotografii

    Permanent collection shows works of Polish photographers from 1850 to WW2. Several temporary exhibitions a year on both documentary and art photography.

    Tue-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat 10:00-17:30, Sun 10:00-15:30·Adult 12 zł, reduced 8 zł

18. SeeWest

    National Museum in Krakow - Main Building

    Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie - Gmach Główny

    The permanent collection comprises 20th-Century Polish Art, Decorative Art, and Arms and Uniforms in Poland. The ground floor has temporary exhibitions

    10:00-18:00, closed Mondays·Adult 35 zł, conc 25 zł, Sundays free

19. SeeEast

    Nowa Huta Cultural Centre

    NCK - Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury

    Home to many modern art galleries, most famously a large exhibition of works by renowned horror-surrealist Zdzisław Beksiński.

    08:00—22:00

20. SeeKazimierz

    Old Synagogue

    Built in the 15th century, the synagogue is the oldest still standing in Poland. It was ransacked by the Nazis during World War II and was renovated between 1956 and 1959. It is now as a museum documenting Jewish life in Kraków.

    Adults: 18 zł, discounted: 14 zł, free on Mondays

21. SeeEast

    Polish Aviation Museum

    Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego

    A museum consisting of a new pavilion (good contemporary architecture) and few hangars filled with over two hundred historic gliders, aircraft, helicopters and more. Among them is a collection of 22 extremely rare antique planes that once belonged to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring of World War II infamy. The museum stands on the grounds of the Rakowice-Czyżyny airfield, one of the oldest military airfields in Europe.

    Tue-Sun 09:00—17:00, Mon closed·Tuesdays free

22. SeeWest

    Polish Home Army Museum

    Muzeum Armii Krajowej

    Museum dedicated to Polish underground movement during and after World War II, and its armed forces.

    Mon-Fri 10:00-7:00, Sun 11.00-18.00·Adult 16 zł, conc 8, Sundays free

23. SeeOld Town

    Princes Czartoryski Museum

    Branch of the National Museum, re-opened in Dec 2019 after refurbishment. Classical art, the highlight being the Mona Weasel, an authentic Leonardo da Vinci portrait, in Polish Dama z gronostajem. She's properly called "The Lady with an Ermine" but the beast she cradles is not zoologically accurate - it's an allusion to the nobility of her sugar daddy the Duke of Milan, who just happened to employ Leonardo. Unlike the better-known Mona Lisa, the painting doesn't suffer from over-familiarity, over-merchandising and overcrowding. The museum houses works by other painters of world renown such as Rembrandt and Brueghel which are able to be enjoyed at your leisure unlike the paintings in the famous and over-loved museums of western Europe. This museum is much bigger than it appears from the outside and is one of the highlights of Krakow.

    Tue-Fri 09:00-19:00, Sat 10:00-20:00, Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult 35 zł, conc 20 zł, Tuesday free

24. SeeSouth

    Schindler's Enamel Factory

    Fabryka Emalia Schindlera

    Museum houses a permanent exhibition concerning Krakow under Nazi occupation; it is located in the administrative building of the former Schindler's Factory.

    Mon 10:00-14:00, Tue-Thu 09:00-19:00 Fri-Sun 09:00-20:00, closed on first Tue of the month·36 zł, reduced 32 zł. Mondays limited amount of free tickets

25. SeeSouth

    Tadeusz Kantor Museum

    Ośrodek Dokumentacji Sztuki Tadeusza Kantora

    Museum documenting life and work of one of the most important 20th century Polish artists. Rusty structure built on the Vistula bank, opened in 2014.

    Tue-Sun 11:00-19:00

26. SeeSouth

    The Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec

    Opactwo Benedyktynów w Tyńcu

    St. Peter's and St. Paul's Church and Benedictine Abbey are situated at the bank of Vistula river. In the 11th century it was one of the most important scientific places in the first Polish Kingdom, the first chronicles of Poland were written here about 1100. Built as a fortress, in the 15th century the church was rebuilt and later remodelled in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its buildings were damaged during the Confederation of Bar in 1764 hostilities. The revival of the Benedictine tradition at Tyniec occurred in the 20th century.

    Visit the abbey with a guide: 6zł. Museum: 7zł normal ticket, 5zł reduced ticket

27. SeeOld Town

    Town Hall Tower

    Most of the Gothic / Renaissance Town Hall was demolished in 1820, but the tower survives, now a branch of the City Museum. You can climb to the observation deck on the top floor, and peer into the workings of the clock, now radio-synchronised.

    Mar-Oct Mon 10:30-14:00, Tue-Sun 10:30-18:00; Nov Dec Mon 11:00-14:00, Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00·Adult 10 zł

28. SeeSouth

    Under the Eagle Pharmacy

    Apteka pod Orłem

    Exhibition focuses on the pharmacist - Tadeusz Pankiewicz, a Righteous among the Nations and life in Jewish Ghetto and Plaszow camp. Museum was renovated as memory lab and expanded in March 2013.

    Tue-Sun 09:00 - 17:00·18 zł, reduced 14 zł; Tu free

29. SeeOld Town

    Wawel Cathedral

    Known in full as Królewska Bazylika Archikatedralna śś. Stanisława i Wacława na Wawelu, or the "Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus on Wawel Hill". On 2 Nov 1946 a talented young priest called Karol Wojtyla conducted his first mass here, the day after his ordination; he went on to become the city's bishop, Pope John Paul II, and a modern Saint. The building is Gothic, built from 14th C. Several crypts and chapels house the remains of Poland's monarchs, nobility, heroes and poets. The Sigismund Tower, ascended by rickety wooden steps, contains the huge Sigismund Bell. The Holy Cross chapel and the Queen Sophia chapel to the right and left of the main entrance (although they are at the entrance if you follow the standard walking tour you don't see them until near the end) are both of great interest, the Holy Cross chapel has 14th century frescoes and the red marble sarcophagus of King Casimir IV Jagiellon while the Queen Sophia chapel is also very lavishly decorated, however they are not the only gems even the casual tourist will find sights of great interest at every turn. Allow at least 1 hour for a visit. Don't forget the small John Paul II museum just across the yard.

    Mon-Sat 09:00-16:00, Sun 12:30-16:00·25 zł

30. SeeEast Not mapped

    Nowa Huta Museum

    formerly the People's Republic of Poland Museum

    An interesting look into Nowa Huta during the Communist era. Changing exhibitions on the top floor, civil defense shelter turned museum in the basement,

    Closed · opens 9 am tomorrow·16 zł, free on Tuesday

31. SeeKazimierz

    Ethnographic Museum

    Located in the 15th-century Kazimierz town hall.

    Mondays closed·Regular 18 zł. Reduced 10 zł. Free on Sunday

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Kraków (CC BY-SA 4.0).