District Museum in Toruń

About

Toruń Regional Museum (Polish: Muzeum Okręgowe w Toruniu), located in the Ratusz hall of Toruń, is one of the oldest and largest museums in Poland. It started in 1594 as the mere Cabinet of Curiosities at the library of the academic Gimnazjum, called Musaeum in Latin. Re-established in sovereign Poland as a city museum in 1920 after the century of military partitions, it was administratively structured as the regional museum in 1965.

The headquarters and main department of the museum is located in the Old Town Hall. It is divided into:

- Old Toruń: History and Crafts (from 1233 to 1793)

- The Mieszczańska Room with one of the earliest portraits of Nicolaus Copernicus

- Militaria (from antiquity to the twentieth century)

- Archaeological exhibition (from 1100 BC to 1300 BC)

- Temporary exhibitions Other departments are:

- Copernicus House at the birthplace and childhood home of the famed astronomer at Kopernika 15/17 Street

- Museum of History of Toruń in the Esken House ( Dom Eskenów ) at Łazienna 16 Street

- Museum of Toruń Gingerbread at Strumykowa 4

- Toruń Fortress Museum at Wały Generała Sikorskiego 23/25 Street

- Museum of Far Eastern Art in the House Under the Star ( Kamienica Pod Gwiazdą ) at Rynek Staromiejski 35

- Tony Halik Museum of Travelers at Franciszkańska 9/11 Street

The Museum's holdings include works by Marcello Bacciarelli, Artur Grottger, Piotr Michałowski, Juliusz Kossak, Józef Brandt, Jan Matejko, Henryk Rodakowski, Józef Chełmoński, Julian Fałat, Leon Wyczółkowski, Stanisław Wyspiański, Jacek Malczewski, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Wojciech Weiss, Józef Mehoffer, Konrad Krzyżanowski, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Jan Cybis, Zbigniew Pronaszko, Piotr Potworowski, Antoni Fałat, Edward Dwurnik, Zdzisław Beksiński, and Jerzy Duda-Gracz.

Retable with Virgin Mary, St. Barbara and St. Catherine, Master of the Góra Passion, after 1510

Toruń Gingerbread baking mould with city's coat of arms, 17th century

Skrwilno and Nieszawa Treasure, between 1615 and 1617

Skrwilno and Nieszawa Treasure, circa 1600

Gothic stained glasses from St. Mary Church in Chełmno, XIV century

The Torun Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (anonymous, c. 1580), kept in the Town Hall