The National Museum in Gdańsk ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku), established in 1972 in
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
(although the history goes back the third quarter of 19th century), is one of the main branches of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
's national museum system.
History
Its main location is in the old late-
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
, which has been used to house exhibits since the end of the 19th century. During that period it was known as ''Danziger Stadtmuseum'', which held a sizeable collection of historical works of art. In 1884, the collection was enlarged with exhibits from the ''Danziger Kunstgewerbemuseum'' when the two institutions merged. The core of the Museum's collection constitutes the collection of
Jacob Kabrun, which includes several thousand pictures, drawings and prints by
European masters from the end of the fifteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.
After the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 65% of the main building of the museum was destroyed and much of the museum's collections were lost, including all the numismatic exhibits as well as works of art from the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
. Also the library and some of the museum's records were lost or destroyed. The first post-war exhibition was opened in 1948 and the museum changed its name to "Pomeranian Museum in Gdańsk". In 1956,
Hans Memling
Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...
's masterpiece ''
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
'' returned to Gdańsk as well as part of the collections of paintings and prints. Originally the museum was located in the
Opatów Palace
The Abbots' Palace in Oliwa ( pl, Pałac Opatów w Oliwie) is a rococo palace in Oliwa, a quarter of Gdańsk (Danzig). The first portion of the palace, the "Old Palace" was constructed in the 15th century. Later, in the first half of the sixteen h ...
in
Oliwa
Oliwa ( la, Oliva; csb, Òlëwa; german: Oliva) is a northern district of the city of Gdańsk, Poland. From east it borders Przymorze and Żabianka, from the north Sopot and from the south with the districts of Strzyża, VII Dwór and Brętowo, ...
and constituted the
ethnographic
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
department of the museum. Since 1989, the palace houses the museum's collection of
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
.
A number of other museums were established from the rich collections of the Pomeranian Museum, which include:
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...
(1960), the Archeological Museum (1962) and the Gdańsk Historical Museum (1971). In 1972, it was renamed as the National Museum in Gdańsk.
In 2017, the museum attracted 162,137 visitors.
Departments
![Gdańsk, Brama Zielona (HB1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Gda%C5%84sk%2C_Brama_Zielona_%28HB1%29.jpg)
Currently the museum has seven departments:
*Department of Ancient Art, contains
Hans Memling
Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...
's ''
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
''
*Department of Modern Art, in the
Opatów Palace
The Abbots' Palace in Oliwa ( pl, Pałac Opatów w Oliwie) is a rococo palace in Oliwa, a quarter of Gdańsk (Danzig). The first portion of the palace, the "Old Palace" was constructed in the 15th century. Later, in the first half of the sixteen h ...
in Oliwa
*Ethnography Department, in the ("Abbot's Granary")
*
Green Gate
The Green Gate ( pl, Brama Zielona, german: former Koggentor, now Grünes Tor) in Gdańsk, Poland, is one of the city's most notable tourist attractions. It is situated between Long Market (''Długi Targ'') and the River Motława.
History
Wi ...
Department
*Gdańsk Photography Gallery
*Museum of the
National Anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
in
Będomin
Będomin ( csb, Bãdomino) is a Kashubian village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowa Karczma, within Kościerzyna County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately west of Nowa Karczma, east of Kościerzyna ...
*Museum of
Szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...
Traditions in
Waplewo Wielkie
Museum directors
![Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku 005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Muzeum_Narodowe_w_Gda%C5%84sku_005.jpg)
*Jan Chranicki (1948-1970)
*Janusz Wąsowicz (1970-1974)
*Jan Przała (1974-1980)
*Józef Kuszewski (1980-1983)
*Teresa Milewska (1983-1988)
*Tadeusz Piaskowski (1988-2004)
*Wojciech Bonisławski (2004-2019)
*Jacek Friedrich (2020)
Gallery
See also
*
List of registered museums in Poland
The Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland may inscribe a Polish museum into the National Register of Museums ( pl, Państwowy Rejestr Muzeów) in order to confirm the high level of its cultural activity and the importance of its co ...
External links
*
References
Art museums and galleries in Poland
Museums in Gdańsk
National museums of Poland
Registered museums in Poland
Museums established in 1972
1972 establishments in Poland
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