National Museum in Szczecin

The National Museum in Szczecin (Polish: Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie) is a national museum in Szczecin, Poland, established on 1 August 1945. Located in the Śródmieście district, it is the largest cultural institution in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and ranks among Poland's most significant museums. The museum holds over 150,000 objects spanning from prehistoric times to the contemporary era, with collections encompassing ancient and modern art, archaeology, history, numismatics, nautical heritage, and ethnography. Its holdings are distributed across six branches, five located in Szczecin and one in Gryfice, making it a multi-site institution that serves as a central pillar of regional and national identity for Western Pomerania.

The museum's origins lie in the post-World War II reorganization of Szczecin, which became part of Poland in 1945. Founded as the Polish City Museum on 1 August 1945 under director Lech Krzekotowski, it took over remnants of collections from pre-war German institutions, notably the Stadtmuseum on the Hakenterrasse (now Wały Chrobrego) and the Pommersches Landesmuseum. In autumn 1947, it gained regional status as the Museum of Western Pomerania, assuming oversight of other museums in the region including those in Belgard, Köslin, Stolp, and Rügenwalde. On 1 January 1950, all Polish museums were nationalized. The institution received its current rank as a National Museum in 1970, recognizing the supra-regional value of its collections. The 1970s brought significant physical expansion with the acquisition of the Old Town Hall for Szczecin's History Museum and a wing of the former garrison command building for the Museum of Contemporary Art. Long-serving director Władysław Filipowiak led the museum from 1955 to 2000, succeeded by Lech Karwowski in 2001, who continues in the position. The pre-war history of museum collecting in Szczecin stretches back to 1824 with the founding of the Society for Pomeranian History and Antiquities. The City Museum (Museum der Stadt Stettin) was established in 1878 and moved to a purpose-built structure on the Hakenterrasse in 1913, designed by city architect Wilhelm Meyer-Schwartau. Its first director, Walter Riezler (1913-1934), built an important collection of ancient art, modern painting, and natural specimens through patrician donations. At the end of World War II, museum director Frida Endell secured remaining collections in the museum cellar and a bank vault, while the most valuable paintings were evacuated westward to Veste Coburg. These later formed the basis of the Pomeranian Foundation collection in Kiel, now in Greifswald.

The National Museum in Szczecin organizes its holdings across specialized departments reflecting its multi-faceted mission. Its collections focus primarily on Pomerania and the Baltic Sea region while also encompassing global material culture. The museum possesses Poland's largest collection of non-European material culture, including African, American, and Oceanian objects acquired primarily in the decades after World War II. Its African holdings, though questioned in terms of authenticity by specialists, include masks and sculptures displayed alongside reconstructed African farmsteads, notably of the Lobi people, considered didactically significant.

The archaeological collections feature finds from the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, including a remarkable 12,000-year-old magic staff carved from elk antler bearing the oldest known figural representation discovered on Polish territory. The museum's medieval and early modern collections include stone and woodwork from the 13th to 16th centuries, guild art, court-commissioned works, and decorative arts. Numismatics focuses on Pomeranian coins, while nautical collections emphasize Szczecin's maritime connections, particularly from the post-1945 period. The Old Drawings and Prints Room holds works from the 18th to 20th centuries, predominantly by German artists active in Berlin, Dresden, and Pomerania.

Among the museum's most celebrated treasures are the "Madonnas with Child" from Gardno, considered the oldest figures of the Virgin Mary in Poland. The Romanesque lime columns from the Cistercian monastery in Kołbacz, decorated with floral ornaments and figures, represent significant medieval stonework. A mid-14th century oak crucifix from the cathedral in Kamień Pomorski holds special significance for the development of European wooden sculpture. The museum also preserves two 13th-century wooden figures of the Virgin and Child from Gardno, and baptismal fonts from Lubiana and Wrzosow typical of medieval Baltic region art by stone-cutters from Gotland. The portrait collection of the Gryfit family, from the legendary Swantibor to the dynasty's last rulers in the early 17th century, documents Pomeranian court culture. Jewels and robes of Pomeranian princes excavated from sarcophagi at Szczecin Castle, including gold jewelry of Prince Francis I (1577-1620), date to approximately 1600. The graphic arts collection features thirty-six sketches by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770) and his son Giandomenico Tiepolo (1727-1804), among its most valuable holdings. Other significant pieces include the St. John's Polyptych and Ludwig Eduard Lütke's View of Szczecin. The ethnographic collection includes the Head of a Queen Mother (Iyoba) from Benin, though the museum's African collection has been assessed as containing many pieces of questionable authenticity.

The National Museum in Szczecin operates across multiple sites, with its main building at Wały Chrobrego 3 forming the visual centerpiece of the Wały Chrobrego promenade, formerly known as the Hakenterrasse. This building was completed in 1913 to designs by Stettin city architect Wilhelm Meyer-Schwartau as the Museum der Stadt Stettin. The imposing structure was originally planned with provision for rear expansion that was never executed. Museum specialist Otto Kunkel noted at the time that no museum specialist had been consulted in its design, and the spaces poorly suited the diversity of collections to be displayed. The Szczecin History Museum branch occupies the Gothic Old Town Hall on Księcia Mściwoja II 8, a building dating to the mid-13th century with impressive surviving interiors. The Museum of Contemporary Art is housed in the Palace of the Heads (Pałac Pod Głowami) at Staromłyńska 1, a former garrison headquarters building. The Museum of Regional Traditions occupies Staromłyńska 27. The Dialogue Center "Breakthroughs" (Centrum Dialogu "Przełomy") is located at Solidarności 1 Square. The Narrow Gauge Railway Exhibition operates in Gryfice. One source describes a Baroque palace designed by Gerard Cornelius von Walrawe built during 1726-1727 as housing the museum, though this appears to refer to a different branch or an alternative description of one of the sites.

The National Museum in Szczecin maintains its main administrative address at ul. Wały Chrobrego 3, 70-502 Szczecin, with contact via telephone at (+48 91) 431 52 61, fax (+48 91) 434 26 56, email biuro@muzeum.szczecin.pl, and website www.muzeum.szczecin.pl. The museum is currently directed by Lech Karwowski, with Dariusz Kacprzak serving as curator. According to available information, the museum is closed on Mondays; open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11am to 6pm; and open Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10am to 4pm. The Szczecin History Museum branch maintains hours of Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday 10:00-18:00, Friday 10:00-16:00, and Sunday 10:00-16:00, also closed Monday. As a state-owned national museum, it serves as the premier cultural institution of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, offering permanent exhibitions including "The Art Patronage of the West Pomeranian Princes," "Pomeranian Sacred Art of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries," "Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," "Romanesque Art in Pomerania during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries," "Gothic Art of the Fourteenth through the Sixteenth Centuries," and "Old Silver."