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The hoard with iron axe-like bars (“grzywna”) from 13 Kanonicza Street in Kraków This treasure was found during rescue investigations in the basements of the backyard annex at 13 Kanonicza Street in Kraków in 1979. The deposit fell under the core of the early medieval bank of Okol. It was hidden in a pit measuring 108 x 210 cm, at a depth of about 100 cm, under walls partially covered with oak and fir wood... |
A sword from Small Market in Kraków The iron sword from the Mały Rynek [Small Market] Square in Kraków was discovered during the renovation of the square’s surface in 2007. So far, it is the only sword found in the archaeological research in the area of Kraków. |
Tournament armour The tournament armour is compiled of several suits of West-European armours created in the mid-16th century. Its basic parts are the cuirass, collarbone guard, and pads and thigh guards made by the best armourers from southern Germany. The breastplate with the fishbone and goose — that is a protrusion in the stomach area — has vertical stripes with an etched motif of a floral twig entwined over a panoply and musical instruments. |
Executioner's sword In the collection of the Regional Museum in Olkusz, there is a well-preserved medieval sword. It is called an executioner's sword, because local legend claims that it was used for an execution carried out in the square in Olkusz. Scientific research does not, however, confirm such a hypothesis with regard to the presented exhibit. |
Mining weight A weight for the town mining scales, once standing on the market square in Olkusz. The ore and melted metal were weighed on it to calculate the tax due to the crown treasury. |
Spear of the Lombards The presented spear could have been forged either in the fifth or fifteenth century. In spite of the metallurgical examination carried out by specialists from the Jagiellonian University, it was not possible to determine the production date of the spearhead. |
Oil mining lamp The earliest source of confirmation regarding use of oil lamps in the Wieliczka Mine dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, but there are no exact data on the shape and material from which they were made. Probably, two types of oil lamps were used: clay – to be held in the hand or adapted to be placed on a flat surface; and metal – with a hook for carrying and hanging, connected with a container for tallow. The shapes of both types are similar – pear-shaped and vertical. |
Hungarian-style horse mill The Hungarian-style horse mill was the best machine for the vertical transportation of salt. It was able to lift loads that weighed over 2 tonnes from a depth greater than 300 m. It was an improved version of the Saxon-style horse mill implemented by Austrians after the First Partition of Poland. Since 1861 it was replaced by steam engines and after 1913 by electrical machines. |
Horse mill Because of the fact that in the salt mines of the Kraków region, i.e. salt mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia, salt lies deep underground, it was excavated through shafts by using the right tools, like devices with a horizontal drive shaft (windlass), handwheels, treadwheels (internal and external), devices with a vertical drive shaft (cross, water-mill), devices with a vertical-horizontal drive shaft (gear mill with a winding reel, gear mill with two winding reels, gear mill with a brake drum) and braking devices. |
Coffee grinder Presented coffee grinder mill has a manual drive – crank (bent bracket finished wooden handle). Tank for grinding is semicircular at the bottom connected to the square housing in which there is a wooden box. Grinder is screwed to the wall with two screws. Back was painted green... |
Flandrian heavy embankment crossbow This is a Flemish heavy rampant crossbow with the pull of a so-called English elevator. The crossbow represents a type of western European heavy infantry crossbow, used for sieges or the defence of the cities. It is a late variant in which structural improvements were applied — a movable viewfinder was introduced and the trigger lever was modified. According to the sixteenth-century chronicles, the effectiveness of this type of crossbow was tremendous. A good crossbowman could strike an unarmoured opponent at a distance of 650 steps, with a speed of one shot per minute. |
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”. |
Orava painted chest The presented object is a high, dark green chest, resting on four profiled legs with a drawer at the bottom. The front wall is decorated with a painted pattern of vertical rectangles with concavely incised corners, separated from the background by a honey colour and a narrow burgundy red frame. |
“Putnia” box The presented box is the so-called putnia box. It was designed for carrying padlocks by salesmen called putniorze. They walked from village to village with putnia boxes... |
Secretive Wawel padlock A secret padlock with a square diameter shackle, two movable pillars, and a cover over the keyhole. The padlock has three keys and protection against thieves in the form of a latch with a serrated blade hidden inside the padlock. After pressing the handle, the blade is released. |
Laboratory press Prasa apteczna tłokowa służyła do wytłaczania (expressio) surowców roślinnych, wymagających dużej siły nacisku. Otrzymywano w ten sposób soki z owoców, liści i korzeni lub oleje z nasion. Prasa tłokowa składała się z drewnianej podstawy, do której przytwierdzony był... |
Pharmaceutical tablet maker machine Today, it seems obvious that we take tablets in their current form. Pharmaceutical companies scramble to launch the most convenient form of a particular drug on the market. Pharmacy was an experimental field in the times we are transported to by the pharmacy exhibition in the house with a turret in the town of Biecz. Pharmacists were not limited to prescriptions and selling ready-made medicines. They also created them. In rooms often referred to as alchemists’ workshops, mysterious mixtures were created, which did not always serve the health of their subsequent users... |
Counter of the surgeons’ guild A guild counter was used for keeping documents connected with the guild, the power insignia of seniors, guild books. The counter of the surgeons’ guild is a cuboid wooden chest with a cover. Its external walls are decorated with panels, ornamented with rhombus motifs filled with stars made in the technique of intarsia (a form of inlaying wooden surfaces with other types of wood). |
Painted dowry chest Dowry chests used to be an inseparable element of the furnishings of almost every house. They were often passed down from generation to generation, repainted, renovated, and in time considerably differed in the colour and ornamentation of their original appearance. Time, fashion, and also wardrobes which were cheaper and cheaper and consequently more accessible, were their enemies. Cheap chests were usually made of softwood, which was often attacked by insects. |
Sculpture “Jesus Christ Sitting on the Palm Sunday Donkey” The sculpture, coming from the parish church of St. Sigismund in Szydłowiec, constitutes an extraordinary dramatic exhibit used during processions of going to church on Palm Sunday as to a symbol of Jerusalem. Christ, in a firmly upright position, is raising his right hand in a gesture of blessing. |