The District Museum in Tarnów

The District Museum in Tarnów presents the rich and diverse culture of Tarnów and its surroundings. The history of the region is linked with its great aristocratic family of Sanguszko, its minor nobility and the local peasant community. The museum pieces are presented in nine departments and branches.
In one of them – the Ethnographic Museum – there is the first and so far the only permanent exhibition devoted to the culture and history of the Romani in Poland. Among the exhibits, one can see, for example, Romani costumes and original Romani wagons. Felicja Curyłowa’s Farm in Zalipie, famous for its distinctive folk paintings, is a branch of the Ethnographic Museum. It presents the interior of the painter’s former house, decorated with floral motifs, cut-outs, and painted figures on paper.

Branches:
Main Building [Gmach Główny] – temporary and historic exhibitions
Ethnographic Museum [Muzeum Etnograficzne] – the history and culture of the Romani
Town Hall [Ratusz] – works of arts from the collection of the Sanguszko family
Castle in Dębno [Zamek w Dębnie] – furnishing of castle interiors
Wincenty Witos’ Museum [Muzeum Wincentego Witosa] – the biography of the peasant activist in his family home
Manor in Dołęga [Dwór w Dołędze] – a traditional Galician manor of the nobility
Jan Matejko’s Memorabilia Museum in Nowy Wiśnicz [Muzeum Pamiątek po Janie Matejce w Nowym Wiśniczu] – drawings and notes kept in a house of the artist’s relatives
Felicja Curyłowa’s Farm in Zalipie [Zagroda Felicji Curyłowej w Zalipiu] – Zalipie paintings
Hall of Memory of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers [Izba Pamięci Światowego Związku Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej] – guerrilla activity of Home Army soldiers during World War II

Elaborated by Julia Czapla, Joanna Kotarba,

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Poland License.

Photograph by Marek Antoniusz Święch, arch. MIK (2014),

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Poland License.

www.muzeum.tarnow.pl

Rynek 3,
33-100 Tarnów

phone 14 621 21 49
phone 14 639 08 64
Fax 14 639 08 65
page museum

How to get there :

on foot

by car

Opening hours

Rynek 3, Tarnów

Monday

closed

Tuesday

9.00 — 15.00

Wednesday

9.00 — 15.00

Thursday

9.00 — 17.00

Friday

9.00 — 15.00

Saturday

closed

Sunday

10.00 — 14.00

Ticket Prices

normal 8 PLN reduced 5 PLN family 16 PLN normal pass 16 PLN reduced pass 10 PLN Sunday — free admission to the permanent exhibition

Mug with a cover

European goldsmithing between the 16th and the 18th century reached an unprecedented artistic and technical level, which was largely due to German masters operating mostly in the chief goldsmithing centre — Augsburg. Thanks to their mass production and high artistic class, goldsmith products from Augsburg soon dominated the markets of Central and Eastern Europe.

Soup vase with a monogram of Prince Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko

Sets of tableware were initially assembled of objects made in a different style, time, and places. Only in the 17th and 18th centuries uniformly decorated tableware, known today as services, began to appear. Until the beginning of the 19th century, there were no strict rules determining what dishes should be included in such a set; therefore, they were put together according to current fashions or the personal preference of the person ordering them...

Axe with a sleeve

A decorated axe with a sleeve and an eyelet, found in the 1970s on a field in Gorzyce near Żabno. The eyelet was of practical value; it was used to attach the axe to a handle, which was bent at a right angle and entered into the sleeve. The handles were made of carefully selected bent pieces of wood.

“Kaflak” table clock

Spring clocks, which were invented in the 15th century, have improved with time. Gradually they were constructed smaller and smaller, and at the beginning of the 16th century they were of such a size that they could be placed on the table. One of popular types of such clocks was a horizontal timer with a mechanism placed in a polygonal, flat casing with a horizontal disc on the top.

The document with the seal of hetman Jan Tarnowski

A parchment with texts in Latin, issued in Wiewiórka, a holiday residence of the Tarnowski family. Suspended on an olive coloured rope is the knight seal of Jan Tarnowski – round, made of red wax, in a wax bowl of a natural colour, with an image of the Leliwa coat of arms, which functions as a symbol of Tarnów to this today, with the legend “IOANNIS COMES IN TARNOW.”

Pitcher of the City Council of Tarnów

Among the memorabilia of the old town authorities stored in the collection of the Museum in Tarnów, a special place is occupied by a set of three identical tin jugs. These vessels were created in Gdańsk in 1639, probably in the workshop of the master Assmus Virian.

Gypsy wagon

In the extensive exhibition devoted to the history and culture of the Romani/Gypsies, the exhibits particularly attracting the attention of visitors are the colourful wagons presented in the courtyard of the Ethnographic Museum. Preserved in the Polish landscape in the 1st half of the 20th century as well as in Polish pop culture thanks to the song by Maryla Rodowicz, they make an interesting memento of the vagabond, truly “Gypsy life”.

Small vase “kantharos”

In the Korzec collection in Tarnów, which numbers 450 inventory items, a small vase of the kantharos type deserves special attention. Vases of this type served as decorations and were produced on the occasion of anniversaries or other events. The excellent quality of the product and the elegance of its form and decorations prove the high level of manufacturing quality in the 1st two decades of the 19th century. In Polish museum collections, a similar small vase can be found in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw.

Sculpture “Roman Damian Sanguszko's bust”

In the collection there is a bust sculpture depicting an image of Roman Damian Sanguszko (1832–1917). Roman Damian was the eldest son of Władysław and Izabela née Lubomirski, and a landowner in the Zaslav Region, an heir to the family property in Volyn. He managed property in the Slavuta Region and the famous horse stud in Chrystivka.

“Corda Fidelium” cup

In the case of the Tarnów collection, the cultural background of the epoch has its counterparts in the Sarmatian culture, characterised by the owner’s need for the ostentatious presentation of his affluence and wealth. The primacy of nobility and magnates, who were in possession of huge estates and enjoyed wide privileges in the 18th century, influenced the development and industrialisation of the country.

“Roztruchan” decorative cup

Aside from its practical functions, the silver tableware collected and stored in Old Polish houses also had representative functions. There was also a separate group of dishes of a primarily decorative character, whose original, sophisticated form, perfection of composition, and materials used for their production were to dazzle and delight the guests.

“Stipo (studiolo, scrigno) a bambocci” writing cabinet with a table

The wall cabinet is made of nut wood, with an architectural structure referring to the façade of a Renaissance palazzo with artistic decoration of human figures and heads fully sculpted. A series of drawers and lockers in symmetrical arrangement are placed around the centrally located architectural construction door. It is placed on a secondary adjusted table, made in the 2nd half of the 19th century — especially for this particular cabinet.

Sculpture “Men's figure” by Jan Wnęk

The sculpture Man's Figure was made from wood, on which residually preserved polychrome is visible, was made about 1850 by Jan Wnęk (1828–1869) from Odporyszów. He was a carpenter, a self-taught sculptor and a genius designer (of a flying machine, among other things).

Sculpture “Portrait Study”

The sculpture was made after 1900 by the artist-sculptor Henryk Hochman, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, a disciple of Florian Cynk and Konstanty Laszczka. Hochman continued his education in the workshop of August Rodin in Paris.

Sculpture “Sikorski grave”

The sculpture Sikorski's Tomb was made in 1987 by Julian Stręk of Pustków-Rudki near Dębica, one of the recently discovered, leading Polish naive artists. It is a composition of many three-dimensional figures and elements made of pine wood, with oil polychrome of aquamarine dominant and with details in silver, walnut and blue colours.

Hunting arquebus

Hunting arquebus with a wheel-lock, after Jan Klemens Branicki (1689–1771), the Grand Hetman of the Crown. Old-time hunting, being an elite form of entertainment for the highest levels of society, required an adequate frame, created by, e.g., luxurious firearms. This kind of weapon was usually made from precious materials and artfully decorated in a style typical of the epoch.

Painting “Portrait of a Young Dutch Girl”

Portraits of the members of the Sanguszko family, one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the former Commonwealth, as well as of their closest relatives make a large group in the collection of the Museum in Tarnów. They were a part of the furnishing and decoration of palace interiors in numerous ducal mansions. The portrait presented here comes from Slavuta situated on the Horyn, one of the main rivers of Volhynia (Ukraine).

Painting “Portrait of Teresa Karolina Radziwiłłowa”

The portrait shows Teresa Karolina Radziwiłłowa, the daughter of the Grand Hetman of the Crown, Wacław Rzewuski and Anna née Lubomirska. From 1764 she was married to Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, the voivode of Vilnius, popularly known as My Dear Sir [Panie Kochanku]. Divorced in 1781, she remarried Feliks Chobrzyński.

Painting “Portrait of Seweryn Józef Rzewuski”

The portrait depicts Seweryn Jan Rzewuski of the Krzywda coat of arms, a son of Stanisław Mateusz, the Grand Crown Hetman, an older brother of Hetman Wacław Rzewuski, and of Ludwika née Kunicka.

Painting “Portrait of Klementyna Sanguszko Ostrowska” of Vincenzo Camuccini

The portrait of Klementyna Countess Ostrowska, of the aristocratic Sanguszko family (1786–1841), was made around 1822. The author was Vincenzo Camuccini, a famous Italian artist, professor of the Academy of St. Luke in Rome. It comes from the palace of the Sanguszko family in Gumniska where, among a rich collection of works of art, there was also a collection of family portraits.

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