8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
The National Museum in Gdańsk is one of the oldest in Poland. It was created by combining the collections of the City Museum and the Museum of Decorative Arts. The exhibition halls of seven branches of the National Museum in Gdańsk are located in historic buildings important for the history of the city and the region. The Department of Early Art located in the main building, in the former Franciscan monastery, has in its collection magnificent paintings, furniture, pottery, sculptures and fabrics. The most valuable in the museum, as well as in Poland, is the painting by Hans Memling "The Last Judgment". The Department of Modern Art is located in the Abbots' Palace in the Oliwa Park. The works collected here have been divided into 5 sections: Graphics and Textiles, Painting and Drawing, Ceramics and Sculpture, Theater Department and the Gallery of Polish Modern Art, presenting about 400 of the most outstanding works of Polish artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. The Ethnography Department is located in the historic Abbey Granary adjacent to the Abbots' Palace. The presented permanent exhibition concerns the folk culture of Gdańsk Pomerania. The Green Gate is a place of temporary exhibitions that showcase old and modern art. The National Anthem Museum is located in the historic manor house in Będomin. Józef Wybicki, the creator of the words of the Polish national anthem, was born and lived here. The Museum of Noble Tradition in Waplewo Wielki is developing its activities in the former estate of the Sierakowski family, a classic Polish manor, which is currently undergoing comprehensive revitalization. The last branch of the National Museum in Gdańsk is the Gdańsk Photo Gallery, located in the Main Town. It remains the only facility in Poland that promotes photographic creativity.
The National Museum in Gdańsk - inherits the collections and traditions of two institutions - the City Museum (1870) and the Museum of Artistic Crafts (1881). Initially, it operated under the name of the City Museum. After the Second World War, monuments found in the ruins of Gdańsk were brought to the destroyed building. They were secured and, if possible, subjected to conservation. The opening of the museum as the City Museum in Gdańsk took place on May 30, 1948. On July 1, 1948, the facility was renamed the Pomeranian Museum. The first exhibitions presented the artistic culture of Gdańsk and Pomerania. The exhibition included European sculpture and painting, artistic crafts and Polish painting of the 19th and 20th centuries. On May 7, 1972, the Pomeranian Museum was renamed the National Museum.
From the very beginning, the main seat of the Museum was a post-Franciscan monastery erected in the 15th and early 16th centuries. During the war in 1945 it was destroyed in 65%. During the reconstruction, which lasted from 1946 to 1956, the building was restored to its original appearance.
The National Museum in Gdańsk has six departments presenting old and contemporary art, photography, folk art, noble and musical traditions.
The basic department is the Department of Old Art. It is located in the original seat of the museum, a former Franciscan monastery. The greatest attraction and pride of the museum is the triptych with the Last Judgment by Hans Memling (1433-1494). In addition, in the Department of Early Art, visitors can see a collection of Dutch paintings with paintings by, among others: Ferdinand Bol, Jan Brueghel the Younger or Jan van Goyen. Also, there are an exhibition of Gdańsk paintings presenting works from the 15th to the mid-20th century. These are genre scenes, still life, religious paintings as well as city landscapes and portraits of its inhabitants. In the cloisters of the monastery, the Pomeranian sculpture from the 13th to the 16th century is displayed. The collection of the Department of Early Art also includes medieval and modern liturgical vessels, baroque wine vessels and a rich collection of ceramics: Gdańsk and foreign faience, Meissen and Berlin porcelain, and objects from the Far East.
On July 17, 1978, the second department of the Museum was established. It was the National Anthem Museum. The museum was located in a noble manor in Będomin in Kashubia. Józef Wybicki, the author of the text of Mazurek Dąbrowski, the national anthem of Poland, was born there. The exhibition presents his life, public activity in the last years of the Polish nobility during the Kościuszko Uprising and the creation of Legions in Italy. An additional attraction is the display of the entire family tree of the Wybicki family and the exhibition of unique patriotic jewelry. The manor house is surrounded by a beautiful, historic park with ancient trees - natural monuments, including the over 400-year-old "Oak of Wybicki".
In 1988, after a renovation and adaptation, the Ethnography Department of the National Museum in Gdańsk was established in the Abbey Granary. It houses a permanent exhibition on the folk culture of Gdańsk Pomerania. The most valuable of the 10,000 exhibits collected is the collection of 18th, 19th and 20th century folk furniture and arts and crafts, mainly from Gdańsk Pomerania: Kashubia, Kociewie, Żuławy, Powiśle and Tuchola Forest.
Since 1989, the Abbots' Palace in Oliwa houses another department of the National Museum in Gdańsk - the Modern Art Department. The collected works here have been divided into 5 sections: Painting and Drawing Department, Graphics and Artistic Fabric Studio, Ceramics and Sculpture Studio, and Theater Department. The permanent exhibition includes about 400 works by the most outstanding Polish artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 11 museum rooms, 280 works of art by 146 Polish artists active from the mid-19th century to the present day are displayed. Works of art are presented in a chronological manner to present the fullest possible variety of artistic phenomena and creative attitudes in Polish art of the 19th and 20th centuries. There is also a Promotion Gallery in the branch, which presents the works of young artists. Temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, chamber music concerts, conferences and meetings with artists are often organized. In summer, the Mozart Music Festival takes place.
The Gdańsk Gallery of Photography became part of the National Museum in 1995. It is a continuation of the gallery established in 1977, operating under the aegis of the Association of Polish Art Photographers, which in 1981 changed its name to the Gdańsk Gallery of Photography. It collects collections of old and contemporary photographs from the areas of Pomerania (especially Gdańsk) and the Borderlands. Furthermore, it is the only facility in Poland, run by a national museum, that disseminates photography. Each year, the gallery prepares 6-10 temporary exhibitions of an artistic, historical or problematic nature, also exhibited outside its premises. Initially, the gallery was located at the corner of Grobla I and Święty Ducha Streets. At the beginning of 2015, it was moved to the Green Gate.
The Green Gate is the largest city gate in Gdańsk. It was built in the years 1564–1568 by Regnier from Amsterdam and Hans Kramer from Dresden, as the Gdańsk residence of the kings of Poland. Today, the gate houses the exhibition department of the National Museum in Gdańsk and the Gdańsk Photo Gallery. Temporary exhibitions of old and contemporary art, both Polish and foreign, are presented here. Also various types of meetings, conferences and shows are organized here.
The last and the youngest department of the National Museum in Gdańsk is the Noble Tradition Department. The Museum of Noble Tradition is located in the palace and park complex in Waplewo Wielki. The estates of Waplewo Wielkie belonged to the family of Counts Sierakowski from 1759. Around the alcove palace with an orangery, they established a 10-hectare park with interesting garden architecture. An interesting Chinese arbor and a statue of a nobleman have been preserved to this day. In the museum, visitors can admire works of art purchased by the owners of the manor over the centuries, paintings, sculptures, works of artistic craftsmanship as well as weapons and ceramics. A new item in the museum are letters from Wacław Sierakowski to brother Józef from the 18th century.
At the end ...
The National Museum in Gdańsk is the largest cultural institution in Pomerania. They have interesting permanent and temporary exhibitions in their branches for lovers of photography, painting and the history of Pomerania. The exhibition rooms of the branches of the National Museum in Gdańsk are located in historic buildings important for the history of the city and the region. For over 60 years, they have been visited by thousands of guests every year.
