Museum of the Sącz Region in Nowy Sącz

The main seat of the Museum of the Sącz Region is the Gothic House at 3 Lwowska Street, within the old-town layout of Nowy Sącz, right next to the basilica. This stone-and-rubble building was raised at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries; after a thorough renovation in 1959–1965 it has belonged to the museum. Until 2024 the institution operated as the District Museum in Nowy Sącz.

A museum with a turbulent history

The beginnings of collecting in Sącz reach back to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, but the institution gained its own walls only after independence was regained: the collections were opened on 12 August 1938 in the rebuilt castle. A year later the most valuable objects were hidden from the occupier, and in January 1945 an ammunition dump explosion turned the castle, together with part of the holdings, into rubble. After the war the museum revived gradually until it settled in today’s Gothic House.

Nine buildings, one museum

Today the Museum of the Sącz Region comprises nine buildings. Besides the Gothic House, adorned with two historic portals, these include the Maria Ritter Gallery on the Market Square and the Former Synagogue Gallery on Berka Joselewicza Street, the Sącz Ethnographic Park, the Museum of the Lachs in Podegrodzie, the Nikifor Museum in Krynica-Zdrój, the Pieniny Museum in Szczawnica, the castle in Nowy Wiśnicz and the Folk Architecture Centre in Szymbark.

In practice

The Gothic House can be visited Tuesday to Thursday 9:30 am–3:00 pm, Fridays 9:00 am–5:00 pm, Saturdays 9:00 am–4:00 pm; closed Mondays and Sundays. The current price list is available at muzeum.sacz.pl. The seat lies a few steps from the Market Square, so a visit combines easily with a stroll around the Old Town.