Chrzanów Museum

The Irena and Mieczysław Mazaraki Museum in Chrzanów is the regional museum of western Małopolska, housed in a historic manor building that locals call the "Inkwell" (Kałamarz). It covers the area's prehistory, the old town and its Jewish community, and local industry, led by the Fablok locomotive works. It makes a good one- or two-hour stop for anyone driving the A4 motorway between Kraków and Katowice.

History of the museum and building

An organising committee for the Chrzanów Land Museum was set up in 1950 at the initiative of Mieczysław Mazaraki, who later ran the museum for many years. It officially opened on 21 July 1960. In 1963 Lipowiec Castle became a branch, in 1966 the museum became a state institution, and in 2004 it was named after Irena and Mieczysław Mazaraki. Since 1 January 2007 Lipowiec and the open-air museum in Wygiełzów have formed a separate institution.

The building at ul. Mickiewicza 13 is the last surviving part of Chrzanów's former manor complex. Sources differ: some describe a 16th-century granary rebuilt in the 18th century, others date the building to 1782–1786. In the second half of the 19th century it became the home of the Loewenfeld family, the last owners of the Chrzanów estate. It retains features of Enlightenment-era architecture and wall paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries, and was entered in the heritage register in 1969.

What to see

• Judaica room – religious and everyday objects of Chrzanów's former Jewish community.
• Industrial room – the story of the Fablok locomotive works and local mining.
• Geology and archaeology rooms – rocks, minerals and the region's prehistory.
• Chrzanów room – craft guilds, folk costume and old schools.
• Cabinet of curiosities and Biedermeier parlour – the Mazaraki collection and an interior from the Loewenfeld era.

Temporary exhibitions are shown in the Urbańczyk House branch at al. Henryka 16. The museum also cares for the Jewish cemetery, listed as a heritage site in 2019 – keys are lent out at the main building after signing the key register.

Tripto tips

From 16 October to 14 April the museum is open Monday to Friday 8:00–14:30, and until 16:00 for the rest of the year. On Sundays it opens 12:00–15:30 – the main building on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of the month, the Urbańczyk House on the 2nd and 4th. Saturdays are reserved for groups of 15 or more booked two weeks ahead. A standard ticket costs PLN 10, reduced PLN 8, cash only. Admission is free on Sundays and public holidays, and for families with the Large Family Card.

The permanent exhibitions take 1–1.5 hours; with the Urbańczyk House and the Jewish cemetery, allow half a day. Chrzanów lies about 45 km west of Kraków; nearby are the ruins of Lipowiec Castle and the Vistula Ethnographic Park in Wygiełzów.