National Museum in Gdańsk – Department of Early Art

The National Museum in Gdańsk – Department of Early Art is the city's most important art museum, housed in a late-Gothic Franciscan monastery on Toruńska Street, a few minutes' walk from the Main Town. It is famous as the home of Hans Memling's triptych "The Last Judgment", but it also holds rich collections of Dutch and Flemish painting, Gdańsk silverware and furniture. It shows how wealthy and cosmopolitan the old Hanseatic city was – and it remains rewarding even while the Memling is off display.

Important for your visit: the Memling triptych

Hans Memling's "Last Judgment" has been off display since February 3, 2025, through the end of 2026 while it undergoes comprehensive research and conservation with Polish and international partners, and while a new, better presentation is prepared. The museum has mentioned December 2026 as the planned date for showing it again – if you are visiting in winter 2026/27, check mng.gda.pl first, since schedules for projects like this can shift.

The building and the museum's story

The building is a former Franciscan monastery, used for exhibitions since the late 19th century. The museum continues the traditions of Danzig's municipal museum (Stadtmuseum) and its museum of applied arts, merged in 1884. A cornerstone of the collection was the bequest of merchant Jacob Kabrun – several thousand paintings, drawings and prints.

About 65% of the building was destroyed in World War II and much of the collection was lost. The first postwar exhibition opened in 1948, and the institution has been called the National Museum in Gdańsk since 1972. Other branches include the Abbots' Palace in Oliwa (modern art) and the Green Gate.

The story of "The Last Judgment"

The triptych was painted in 1467–1471 in Bruges for Angelo Tani, an agent of the Medici bank, and was meant for a chapel at Badia Fiesolana near Florence. In 1473 the ship carrying it was seized by the Gdańsk privateer Paul Beneke, and the painting went to St Mary's Church in Gdańsk, where it stayed despite repeated demands for its return. After Napoleon's troops took the city in 1807, it was carried off to the Louvre, returning after his fall (sources give 1816 or 1817). At the end of World War II the Germans hid it in Thuringia; the Red Army took it to the Hermitage in Leningrad, and it came back to Gdańsk in 1956. Open, it measures about 223.5 × 306 cm.

What to see

• Dutch and Flemish painting – including works by Jan Brueghel the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, David Teniers the Younger, Frans Floris, Pieter de Hooch and Jan van Goyen.
• Gdańsk goldsmiths' work, pewter and ceramics.
• Furniture, including Gdańsk-style wardrobes, and religious sculpture.
• Prints and drawings by old masters.
• The Gothic monastery interiors themselves.

How long to stay and is it worth visiting?

Plan 1.5–2 hours. For art lovers it is the top museum in Gdańsk; for everyone else it is a quiet, beautiful counterpoint to the busy Royal Route. Weekday mornings are calmest. Tuesday is free, so it can be busier. Tickets are sold on site only, not online, and there is a discounted group rate for families and friends (3–8 people).

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

• Address: Toruńska 1, 80-822 Gdańsk
• Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, closed Mondays. No separate winter schedule is published.
• Closed (2026): November 1 and 11, December 24–26 and 31.
• Tickets: 25 PLN regular, 20 PLN reduced, 18 PLN per person for families or friends (3–8 people); free on Tuesdays.
• Contact: +48 58 301 68 04, info@mng.gda.pl

How to get there

Gdańsk is on Poland's Baltic coast, about three hours from Warsaw by express train; Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport is around 15 km away. The museum sits at the southern edge of the Main Town, about 10 minutes on foot from Long Street. Trams and buses stop at "Muzeum Narodowe" on Toruńska Street. The center is a paid parking zone.

Nearby

• Holy Trinity Church, the Gothic church attached to the former monastery.
• Golden Gate and Long Street with the Town Hall and Artus Court.
• St Mary's Basilica, where "The Last Judgment" hung for centuries.