Historical Museum of Kraków a.k.a. Historical Museum of the City of Kraków (Polish: Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa ) at the Krzysztofory Palace in Kraków, Poland, was granted the status of an independent institution in 1945. Originally, it was a branch of the Old Records Office of Kraków, in operation from 1899.[1]
The Museum's main location is a Baroque Krzysztofory Palace, owned between 1640-1649 by the Crown Court Marshal Adam Kazanowski who also commissioned its construction. The palace was designed by joining three Gothic houses in the Main Square.[2] The first major upgrade of the palace was done by the architect Jakub Solari in 1682-1684. One of its unique features is the fine stucco work by Italian architect Baldassare Fontana working in Kraków at the time. Towards the end of the 19th century, the main floor was taken up by a popular restaurant Pod Palmą founded by Antoni Hawełka, purveyor to the imperial court of Vienna.[3]
The Historical Museum is made up of 14 divisions scatered around the city, including its main branch as well as Old Synagogue, Schindler's Factory, Under the Eagle Pharmacy, Pomorska street Gestapo prison, Hipolit Manor, Town Hall Tower, Barbakan, Defensive Walls, Celestat, Muzeum of Nowa Huta, Zwierzyniecki Manor, Under the Cross Manor, and the Main Market Square tunnels. The divisions preserve and display artifacts of the history of the city, the history of Jews, the history of the theatre and many others.[4]
The Museum holdings include sixteenth through twentieth century city maps, paintings, prints, photographs, guild objects and works by Kraków artists and artisans, as well as portraits of nobility from the sixteenth to the twentieth century; fourteenth through twentieth century weapons; a collection of sixteenth through twentieth century clocks; famous Kraków nativity scenes (szopka); artifacts related to theatre; Judaica; items commemorative of the Polish uprisings of the nineteenth century and of World War I and II.
The Museum houses a permanent exhibit of the History and Culture of Kraków, a collection of the militaria (projectiles, firearms, defense and sharp weapons), clocks and watches. The Town Hall Tower in the Main Market Square is the venue of the Photographs of the Market Square exhibition.
Since 1999, under the Museum's jurisdiction is the Barbakan, one of the best known examples of medieval defense structures in Poland, whose interior is made accessible to tourists each summer.
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