Manggha (full name: Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, until 2007: Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology) is a museum in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, Poland. Until 2005, it was a branch of the National Museum of Kraków.

History

Portret Feliksa Jasieńskiego w błękitnym kaftanie - Leon Wyczyłkowski

In 1920, Feliks Jasieński—critic, writer and collector of art, whose penname was "Manggha"—donated his collection of artworks connected with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

. After his death, the collection was not exhibited, one reason being the lack of space to arrange the 6500 items. The lone exception was an exhibition in

Cloth Hall A cloth hall or linen hall (german: Gewandhaus; pl, Sukiennice; french: Halle aux draps; nl, Lakenhal) is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from medieval times into the 18 ...

of Kraków in 1944, organised by the Germans, who occupied Poland at the time. A young

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

saw the exhibition and became fascinated by

Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...

. In 1987, almost half a century later, Andrzej Wajda received a film award in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. He decided to donate the entire sum to the National Museum in Kraków to build a brand new building in which to exhibit the entire collection. Andrzej Wajda was supported by local authorities, the city, and the government of Japan with special help from ambassador Nagao Hyodo. The East Japan Railway Workers' Union with president Akira Matsuzaki donated the equivalent of approximately $1MM U.S. to the Kyoto-Kraków Foundation created by Andrzej Wajda and friends. Manggha Krakow

The building was designed by the

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

-winning Japanese architect

Arata Isozaki Arata Isozaki (磯崎新, ''Isozaki Arata''; born 23 July 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019. Biography Isozaki was ...

, who donated the design to the foundation. Krzysztof Ingarden, J.Ewy and JET Atelier were collaborating architects on the Polish side. Manggha was opened on November 30, 1994. In 1997, Manggha received a Special Award of the Japanese Foundation. On July 11, 2002, the museum was visited by

Emperor Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. Bo ...

and

Empress Michiko is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who served as the Empress of Japan, Empress consort of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019. Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito an ...

. On the request of the emperor, an exhibition of selected woodcuts of the great Japanese artist

Utagawa Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

had been prepared. The imperial couple donated some audio-visual equipment to the centre's school of Japanese language. In a 2006 architectural competition, the centre was chosen as one of twenty most interesting examples of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

in Poland built after 1989. - "Polska. Ikony architektury" ''("Poland. Icons of Architecture")''."Polska. Ikony architektury" on Culture.pl
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Architecture

The exterior features of this modern building—the roof resembles the sea in many old Japanese paintings—echo both the museum's surroundings and some of the art housed within; the garden next to the building is a gift of the city of

. It is a contemporary structure that both complements and contrasts with the ancient art of Japan, and contains both exhibition and conference rooms. In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the Centre organises temporary ones—mostly relating to Japanese art, culture and technology. In addition, the centre organises courses in

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...

, ''

ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It is also known as . The tradition dates back to Heian period, when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, flower arrangements were instead used to adorn the (alcove) of a traditional Japan ...

'', and

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

. Manggha is the headquarters of the Polish ''

Bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce ...

'' Club.

References

External links

* *Book
Feliks 'Manggha' Jasieński and His Collection at the National Museum in Krakow
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Poland Museums of Japanese culture abroad Museums in Kraków Art museums established in 1994 1994 establishments in Poland Asian art museums in Poland

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links