Sukiennice Museum
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| Established | 1879 |
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| Location |
Main Market Square Kraków, Poland |
| Type | National museum |
| Website | Museum's official website |
The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at Sukiennice (Polish: Galeria Sztuki Polskiej XIX wieku w Sukiennicach), is a division of the National Museum, Kraków, Poland. The Gallery is housed on the upper floor of the Renaissance Sukiennice Cloth Hall in the center of the Main Market Square in Old Town Kraków.
The Gallery holds the largest permanent exhibit of the 19th-century Polish painting and sculpture, in four grand rooms. The majority of today’s collection at Sukiennice comprises gifts from collectors, artists and their families.
The National Museum in Kraków was founded on October 7, 1879 by the decree of Kraków City Council following two-year-long renovations of the Sukiennice Cloth Hall under the direction of Mayor Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz. At a ceremonial ball of October 3, 1879 it was announced that artist Henryk Siemiradzki offered his monumental painting called the Nero's Torches (Pochodnie Nerona) as gift to the city, with the intention of creating a brand new national gallery in the building. The new Museum elected Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts as its first director. It was a major cultural venue from the moment it opened. The collection grew rapidly under the foreign partitions, with spontaneous donations pouring in from local gentry, as well as artists themselves.
By the late 1930s, the collections consisted of almost 300,000 items. The list of major benefactors grew exponentially bigger including many noble families. In 1920, the Museum acquired over 15,000 objects donated by a single collector, Feliks Manggha Jasieński, Dołęga coat-of arms. The construction of the Museum's contemporary New Main Building located at 3 Maja Street, started in 1934. All holdings ranging from antiquity to modern times were moved there.
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Wikipedia