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 14 PLN normal pass 16 PLN reduced pass 10 PLN Sunday — free admission to the permanent exhibition

Longcase clock

One of the two twin longcase clocks, decorated with the imitation of green Far Eastern lacquer, comes from the castle in Podhorce, belonging originally to the Rzewuski family and subsequently purchased together with its furnishings by the Sanguszko family. The clock cases distinguish themselves with the pseudo-Chinese decoration painted in gold, enriched with European motifs and “Chinese” figural scenes and landscapes.

“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.

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.

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...

Hanukkah lamp

Chanukah — the eight-day Jewish festival of lights – in its historical aspect commemorates the victorious Maccabean Revolt against the Greeks under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, whereas in its ethical aspect refers to the salvation of Judaism, the only existing monotheistic religion based on the coherent system of moral values in the 2ndcentury B.C.

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.

“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 “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.

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 “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 “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.

Wooden sculpture “Pensive Christ”

A wooden polychrome sculpture of Pensive Christ by an unknown author from the 2nd half of the 19th century, coming from the village of Borowa in the district of Tarnów; it was originally located in a box roadside shrine.

“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.

“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.

Manuscript “The privilege of Stanisław Koniecpolski for Jews from Tarnów” with a seal

Jewish settlements in Poland began during the period of the Piast dynasty and increased in the 14th-16th centuries. At first, Jews settled in larger towns, in search of better living conditions. The first Jews arrived in Tarnów in the mid-15th century. The proof of this is the mention of Kafel, a Jew, which can be found in the court files of Lviv from 1445.

Manuscript “The privilege of Jan Zapolya for citizens of Tarnów” with a seal

On the 29th of September 1528, in the castle in Tarnów, John, the King of Hungary, Dalmatia, and Croatia, Margrave of Moravia and Lusatia, Duke of Silesia, granted the town of Tarnów, in return for the hospitality provided by Jan, Count of Tarnów, Voivode of Rus, 500 florins of annual income derived from the Košice tricesima, which was a fee charged from merchants entering the Kingdom of Hungary.

Painting “Portrait of Teresa née Czartoryska Lubomirska”

The pride of the palace in Slavuta was a small pastel portrait which presented a charming teenage girl. It depicts Teresa née Czartoryska, the daughter of Józef Klemens, the founder of the china manufacturing plant in Korets. The girl’s mother was duchess Dorota née Jabłonowska, who was famous for her beauty. The author of the portrait was one of the most outstanding French painters, Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun /1755–1842/.

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.

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