Natural History Museum in Cracow

Medals available at the entrance next to the ticket office!

The Natural History Museum of the ISEZ PAN traces its origins to the Physiographic Commission of the Krakow Scientific Society, established in 1865. Initially, the collections were housed in a university building on St. Anne Street, and in 1870, they were moved to the attic of the Krakow Scientific Society building (from 1873, the Academy of Sciences) on Sławkowska Street. The Museum displayed geological collections as well as flora and fauna specimens.

The first exhibition, featuring K. Wodzicki’s ornithological collections along with geological and paleontological specimens, opened to the public in 1888. Between 1896 and 1914, the Academy of Sciences building was gradually expanded, and in 1922, the natural history exhibition was reopened.

In 1930, the Museum acquired a unique specimen—a woolly rhinoceros from Starunia in eastern Subcarpathia, dating back about 30,000 years. During World War II, the most valuable collections were evacuated to the building’s basement and ground floor. After the war, the museum exhibition reopened in 1946, with geological collections displayed on the ground floor and a new zoological exhibition, “Fauna of Poland and Tropical Regions,” as well as a paleontological exhibition, “Pleistocene Fauna of Poland,” arranged in the attic.

In 1953, the Natural History Museum’s collections were divided among three newly established institutions of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The zoological collections remained at Sławkowska Street.

The expansion of research facilities and the library, along with building renovations, negatively impacted the museum’s exhibition space, which was gradually reduced. The long-planned relocation of the museum exhibition outside the Academy’s headquarters was finally realized in 1992 with the purchase of the former “Roman Baths” building on St. Sebastian Street.

After initial adaptations of the new space, the first exhibition, “Seashells,” opened in January 1993, followed by several temporary exhibitions. In 1995, to mark the Museum’s 130th anniversary, a historical exhibition was prepared, and the permanent exhibition “Pleistocene Fauna of Poland” was recreated in the new location.

By 2007, the Museum had organized over 70 temporary exhibitions, including nine in collaboration with foreign museums from France, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Germany. The Museum also prepared over 40 traveling exhibitions in Poland and hosted several national and international conferences.

The Museum’s collections comprise over 2 million specimens. In recent years, they have been enriched by valuable donations, including an amber collection (gift from Jacek Serafin), a mineral and fossil collection (gift from Prof. Zbylut Grzywacz), and a collection of volcanic rocks (gift from Zygmunt Holcer).