The Main Building serves as the headquarters of the National Museum in Krakow and houses three permanent exhibitions, namely, the Gallery of Arms and Uniforms in Poland, the Gallery of Decorative Art and the Gallery of 20th Century Polish Art, as well as rooms used for temporary exhibitions. In addition, the Director’s office, and the museum’s administration and library are located within the building, as are some of its studios and workshops.
Owing to the rapid rate at which the collections were growing, the notion of erecting a new building was born as far back as the early 20th century. At the same time, the new building was also to serve, symbolically, as a commemoration of the many years of struggle undergone by the Poles as they strove to attain independence. In 1931, two architects, Czesław Boratyński and Edward Kreisler, working in collaboration with the then director of the museum, Professor Feliks Kopera and another architect, Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, created a design for the Museum – A Monument to Freedom. During the Second World War, the unfinished building was commandeered by the German army occupying Krakow. Once the war was over, work continued on extending the building and modifying the designs, to finally see its completion in 1991.
Owing to the rapid rate at which the collections were growing, the notion of erecting a new building was born as far back as the early 20th century. At the same time, the new building was also to serve, symbolically, as a commemoration of the many years of struggle undergone by the Poles as they strove to attain independence. In 1931, two architects, Czesław Boratyński and Edward Kreisler, working in collaboration with the then director of the museum, Professor Feliks Kopera and another architect, Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, created a design for the Museum – A Monument to Freedom. During the Second World War, the unfinished building was commandeered by the German army occupying Krakow. Once the war was over, work continued on extending the building and modifying the designs, to finally see its completion in 1991.