Muzeum Podkarpackie (the Sub-Carpathian Museum) in Krosno

Photograph by D. Piwka 

ul. Piłsudskiego 16
38-400 Krosno
phone No +48 13 43 213 76
fax +48 13 43 243 01

Official website: www.muzeum.krosno.pl

Muzeum Podkarpackie (the Sub-Carpathian Museum) in Krosno has cherished Polish tradition and patriotic education for over than last fifty years, gathering and displaying the cultural achievements connected with the regional history but also collections unique on the European scale. Most of the exhibit items compose exceptional exhibitions displayed in historical interiors of the Bishops’ Palace.
We cordially invite everybody interested in our offer to see permanent and temporary exhibitions and to attend the cultural events held by the Sub-Carpathian Museum. We have been introducing our visitors to the Podkarpacie regional history, archaeology, fine art and many other interesting topics.

Museum opening hours for visitors
in winter (XI - IV) Tuesday to Friday: 9 – 15 (visiting to 16)
in winter at weekends: 10 – 15 (visiting to 16)
in summer (V - X) Tuesday to Friday: 9 – 16 (visiting to 17)
in summer at weekends: 10 – 16 (visiting to 17)
Library opened on weekdays (Mon - Fri) 8 – 15

Admission fees
Regular admission fee for permanent exhibitions PLN 6.50
Concessionary/reduced fee for permanent exhibitions PLN 3.50
 - on Sunday admission free for permanent exhibitions
Regular admission fee for a temporary exhibition PLN 4.50
Concessionary/reduced for a temporary exhibition PLN 2.50
Guide fee (group up to 30 people) PLN 20
Guided sightseeing tours of the Old Town Complex PLN 40
Guided sightseeing tours in the Parish Church PLN 20
Guided sightseeing tours of the Old Cemetery PLN 40
Guide fee on Sunday PLN 50
Lesson in the Museum PLN 25  (+admission fee PLN 2.50 )
Guided sightseeing in a foreign language (English) PLN 58

Exhibitions
The following permanent exhibitions are displayed in the Museum interiors:

History of lighting (the largest kerosene lamps collection in Europe)
Prehistory of the Podkarpacie region
Krosno and its environs over the centuries
Gallery of Krosno artists, authors and other creators in the 19th and 20th centuries
Pleyel’s grand piano of about 1860
Glassware from the Podkarpacie glassworks

History of lighting – the Museum’s pride exhibition comprises the kerosene lamps collection – the largest in Europe – is the display core; the exhibits come from various European and world manufacturers. The exhibition shows the most popular sources of light in a chronological order, from ancient oil lamps through modern candlesticks to the early 29th century first electric lamps. Impressive and richly decorated lamps of sound and perfect workmanship being an attraction themselves, are displayed in exceptional arrangement which introduces visitors into the atmosphere of a bourgeois drawing room of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prehistory of the Podkarpacie region – The Past Enlivened – an archaeological exhibition mounted around a fragment of original 14th-century fortification wall of Krosno. It shows the history of the settlement on the Podkarpacie area from the first traces of human activity from the late Palaeolithic until early Middle Ages. The rich collection of tools, weaponry, ceramic ware and other everyday articles are displayed in a suggestive setting. The display was given awards by the Minister of Culture and the National Heritage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Krosno and its environs over the centuries – the exhibition displays the history of the Royal Town of Krosno from its very beginnings to date. The first part of the display is based on important archaeological discoveries coming from the Krosno Old Town Market Square and introduces visitors into the image of the mediaeval and renaissance town. Paintings, lithographs, old photographs in combination with other precious artefacts create, in turn, a 19th-century Galicja (Galizia) portrait with their inhabitants involved in the struggle for liberation of Poland. Other parts of the display commemorate the period of World War I, the interwar period, the time of the defensive September campaign and German occupation as well as pro-independence clandestine activity after 1944. The display is completed with photographs of the recent years of life in Krosno.

Gallery of Krosno artists, authors and other creators in the 19th and 20th centuries – this exhibition of painting and sculpture evidencing the rich artistic past of the town, displays the works of Polish and foreign art academies’ graduates connected with the locality. The works of art include those of Stanisław Bergman, an outstanding Matejko’s disciple and a “photographer” of Krosno of the turn of the centuries and of the artists of the last halfcentury: Zdzisław Truskolaski, Bronisław Olszewski, Jan Ekiert and Władysław Kandefer. This display, full of beauty immortalized on canvas, is supplemented by a musical instrument …
 
 

Pleyel’s grand piano of about 1860 – the instrument originated in a Paris manufacture belonging to the Pleyels, a family who produced clavichords and pianos, also for Frederic Chopin. Their instruments met the high virtuoso’s requirements and many times were rated first at international industry exhibitions, just like the model in the Museum’s collection. It is even more precious as it is the oldest relic of the Chopin’s epoch in Poland and the only concert grand piano in full working order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glassware from the Podkarpacie glassworks – this display shows the glassware production traditions of the Podkarpacie region. We expose the first domestic glassware sets manufactured by the oldest European glassworks: Krosno Glass Factory and contemporary production lines of several other glassworks operating in Krosno and its environs – the designs and artistic items. A collection of photographs supplements the display.

 

 

 

 

Temporary exhibitions, scholarly conferences ...
 
Several dozens of attractive temporary exhibitions are mounted by the Museum every year, the varying topics including archaeology, regional history, fine arts, ethnography and photography, compiled from the Museum’s own collections, and those of other Polish and foreign museums. Their universal range of topics, unique exhibits and rich settings are the reasons why each of the exhibitions enjoys wide public interest, both of the younger and older generations.

Our website: www.muzeum.krosno.pl contains regularly updated information on temporary exhibitions.

The Sub-Carpathian Museum also holds sessions, scholarly conferences, concerts, talks and meetings with interesting people and celebrities as well as museum lessons. It carries out publishing activity as well. The painting, sculpture and metalwork conservation workshop, apart from their in-house occupation, renders the conservation services for institutions and individual customers and the library is well-furnished with specialist literature for studies of the issues of Krosno and the Podkarpacie region.
The branch factual departments deal with scholarly activities in the history of Krosno and Podkarpacie area, regional folk art, the history of lighting and the Podkarpacie glass industry. Archaeologists do research of Krosno and the pre-history of the Polish Capathian Mountains (the topics include: the Krosno Old Town Market Square, the stronghold in Trzcinica near Jasło, the sites in Hłomcza near Sanok). A 10th-century Slavonic settlement, a late 13th-century wooden gutter, a wooden water supply pipeline (1366), the 13th – and 14th-century merchants’ stalls, a 14th-century Town Hall and another of the 16th century, the 16th-century cobblestone paved yard surface and thousands of single minor artefacts were found during the digs on the Krosno Old Town Market Square. The discoveries are a breakthrough in recognition of the mediaeval urban development processes.

Showing visitors / tourist groups around
The visitors may be shown around by a guide in Polish and in English.
A visit of the permanent exhibitions by a package tour takes approximately 1 – 1.5 h, individual tourists will need about 2 h.
A walking tour around the vintage complex of the Old Town of Krosno, the Old Cemetery and visiting the „Wały Królewskie” (Royal Earhtworks) stronghold in Trzcinica form an interesting educational offer of the Museum.
The sightseeing route of the vintage Old Town of Krosno includes:
Bishops’ Palace (where the Sub-Carpathian Museum is based), the Holy Trinity Parish Church, the Parish Belfry Tower, the Old Town Market Square (general briefing, the Alderman’s House, the Renaissance Town Hall, the Alderman’s Tenement House), Franciscan Fathers’ Church (the Oświęcim Family Chapel), the Mazurkiewicz Family House, the Jesuits College, the Capuchin Fathers’ Church and Monastery.
Old Cemetery in Krosno:
Necropolis established about 1786 and closed in 1954. Many precious tombstones and an obelisk devoted to the January Uprising insurgents have survived. The walk along the cemetery alleys turns into a lecture remembering the outstanding Krosno citizens and presenting the history of the town of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.
The „Wały królewskie’’ in Trzcinica, and the Open-Air Archaelogical Museum under construction – a Division of the Sub-Carpathian Museum in Krosno; we suggest visiting the fortified stronghold and settlement existing at the beginnings of the Bronze Age, the oldest in Poland. The impressive early-mediaeval stronghold is the best preserved fortified site of that type coming from that period in Małopolska (Little Poland). The unique artefacts found during the archaeological excavations on the stronghold are displayed in the Sub-Carpathian Museum at the archaeological exhibition.
Our website: www.skansen.muzeum.krosno.pl contains more information on the archaeological open-air museum.

Museum lessons
 
The topics of the lessons are adjusted to the syllabuses applicable in elementary, sub-secondary and secondary schools. The lessons are enriched with video projections, slides, museum exhibits and multi-medial presentations.
Group booking, hiring a guide and preparation of museum lessons is available by phone at No 013 43 213 76 ext. 13 (Education and Promotion Section).

We also offer other educational events: conferences and scholarly sessions devoted to archaeological, historical and cultural issues. Pałac Biskupi (the Bishops’ Palace) is a venue where you can listen to concerts, Chopin’s chamber music piano recitals on the vintage Pleyel by the best Polish pianists. There are also meetings with Podkarpacie celebrities (travellers, authors, regional folklore researches) in the form of multi-medial presentations, talks, lectures and film projections. The events are open to general public and free of charge. 
 

                                                                                                                              
The Sub-Carpathian Museum invites visitors to see the exhibitions and attend the cultural events.
We wish to introduce you into the history of Krosno and the Podkarpacie region, its art, archaeology and many other topics in the humanities. Here, you can find works of art and unique artefacts, often of the European and even world importance. The Museum’s publications, postcards and souvenirs are available at the booking office.