Under Sails and Stars - Seas, Ports and Sailors

Three centuries of seafaring told entirely on paper: 76 early printed books, maps and atlases, from the stars sailors steered by to plans of the ports of Gdańsk and Riga. It runs until 7 February 2027 at the National Museum’s Czapski branch on Piłsudskiego Street, and the ordinary 18 PLN branch ticket gets you in.

National Museum in Krakow on the exhibition (the museum’s own English text):

Since time immemorial, the vastness of the seas has presented a challenge to humankind, but has also been a realm of bold dreams, undiscovered mysteries, and mortal dangers. Venturing out onto the open seas required not only extraordinary courage, but also the constant advancement of technology and science. This exhibition invites visitors to follow in the footsteps of the early explorers, merchants, and scholars who, over the centuries, sought to master and describe the vastness of the oceans. Through the pages of unique old books, as well as richly illustrated maps and atlases, a world is revealed in which the art of shipbuilding and navigation allowed mankind to broaden its horizons.

What to expect

This is a show made of paper. According to the museum, all 76 objects are early printed books, maps and atlases published between the 16th and 18th centuries. Ships, harbours and instruments therefore appear as engravings and printed plates rather than as models. The museum does not say how many rooms the show fills or which of the branch’s buildings (the palace or the pavilion) houses it.

Five threads the museum describes on the exhibition page:

• Navigating by the stars - the astrolabe and the armillary sphere, the instruments used to fix a ship’s position on the open sea.
• Building ships - hull cross-sections with stacked decks and gun batteries, descriptions of rigging, and the richly carved transoms of early warships.
• Fighting the sea - an artillery treatise on raising sunken vessels with lifting machinery, and prototype diving suits. There are also studies of Archimedes’ ideas: the “claw” that lifted ships and the mirror that focused sunlight to set enemy ships on fire.
• Stories from the sea - an 18th-century edition of the Odyssey, the voyages of Columbus, Cook and Drake, and alongside them storms, castaways on rafts and naval battles.
• How far the routes reached - from ceremonies aboard the Venetian galley Bucentaur, through plans of Gdańsk and Riga, to the Pacific.

Worth it if you like old maps, the history of the book or the history of technology: this is an exhibition you read as much as look at. If you were hoping for marine painting or rigged ship models, skip it: there are none here.

Context

Count Emeryk Hutten-Czapski (1828-1896) put together what the National Museum calls the most valuable collection of Polish coins, medals and banknotes ever assembled; he also collected books and prints. In 1894 he moved to Krakow with his collections, into the palace on what is now Piłsudskiego Street. In 1903 his widow and sons handed palace and collection to the National Museum. The museum was closed to the public from 1939 for more than 70 years and reopened after a restoration completed in 2013.

Today the palace is mainly a coin and medal museum, but the National Museum also lists rotating displays of early printed books and manuscripts among its roles. Its Old Prints Library sits on the first-floor mezzanine, and the museum’s Department of Early Printed Books and Manuscripts works in the house next door at number 14. This exhibition follows the same line, putting the old book and the map at the centre instead of the coin.

Two pieces of background help with the display cases. Until the mid-1750s, working out longitude at sea out of sight of land was an unsolved problem; John Harrison’s marine chronometer, which solved it, dates from 1761. The Bucentaur was the doge of Venice’s state barge, rowed out into the Adriatic every Ascension Day for the “Marriage of the Sea”; the last one was destroyed in 1798 on Napoleon’s orders.

Tickets and time

There is no separate ticket. Admission is included in the branch ticket: 18 PLN regular, 14 PLN reduced, 36 PLN family, 1 PLN for pupils and students, free for children under 7. The same ticket covers the palace and the Józef Czapski Pavilion. Buy it at the desk or in the museum’s own online shop at bilety.mnk.pl .

The branch opens Tuesday 10:00-18:00 (10 AM to 6 PM) and Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-16:00; closed Monday. Last entry is 20 minutes before closing, which in practice means 15:40 on most days. Tuesday is the National Museum’s free day for permanent exhibitions. Neither the exhibition page nor the price list says whether this temporary show is included, so if free entry matters, ask at the branch ticket desk (+48 12 433 58 43). According to the museum’s FAQ, individual visitors on the free day must collect a free ticket from the ticket desk before going in.

Common questions:

• Does a ticket from the Main Building, the Cloth Hall or the Czartoryski Museum get me in? According to the museum’s price list, each of them includes the permanent exhibitions at the Czapski branch. The list says nothing about temporary shows, so the ticket desk decides here too.
• Is the annual pass worth it? The 12-month National Museum pass (300 PLN regular, 200 PLN reduced) covers every exhibition except the Czartoryski Museum, this one included. It only pays off if you visit many times a year.
• Is there an audio guide? The museum’s FAQ lists audio guides at the Main Building, the Cloth Hall and the Czartoryski Museum only; the Czapski branch is not on the list.
• Can I get a guide? Only by booking ahead (rezerwacja@mnk.pl , +48 12 433 57 44, weekdays 9:00-16:00); guides cannot be hired on the spot. The English version of the museum’s site quotes 200 PLN for a tour in a foreign language and 150 PLN in Polish; the Polish version quotes 220 PLN and 170 PLN. Admission is extra in both cases. Confirm the rate when you book.
• Is it wheelchair accessible? The palace entrance has high steps, managed with portable rails, and there is a lift inside. The Old Prints Library on the mezzanine is not accessible by wheelchair; the museum does not say exactly where the exhibition is, so ask at the desk before you go.

English on site: the museum publishes this exhibition’s text in English on its website and has a tactile, audio-enabled board at the ticket desk describing the building in Polish, English and Ukrainian. It does not say whether the wall labels are bilingual, and the branch has no audio guide, so if you do not read Polish, book a foreign-language tour or plan on a translation app.

Allow 40 to 60 minutes for the exhibition itself: there are few objects, but nearly every one needs reading. With the coin galleries in the palace and the Józef Czapski Pavilion, budget about two hours. Best for readers, map lovers and teenagers who like the history of inventions; younger children will tire quickly of cases full of old books.

The branch is at ul. Piłsudskiego 12, about ten minutes on foot from the Main Market Square; trams 1 and 20 and buses 124, 152, 424 and 502 stop at Uniwersytet Jagielloński nearby.

What the press says

Fakty Krakowa (8 September 2026, byline “krystian”): an opening-day overview which, as the portal itself notes, is based on the museum’s own material. It summarises the exhibition’s story from celestial navigation to the Pacific and offers no verdict - article at Fakty Krakowa (in Polish).

As of 23 September 2026 this is the only press item found on the exhibition; searches in Polish and English turned up no review.

Updates

• 23 September 2026 - dates, prices and opening hours rechecked on the museum’s own pages: unchanged. The museum’s events calendar lists nothing tied to this exhibition.
• 13 September 2026 - dates, prices and opening hours rechecked on the museum’s own pages, unchanged since opening. No accompanying events have been announced.

See also

• Precious, Most Precious. Works from the Princes Czartoryski Library - Krakow’s other exhibition of manuscripts and early printed books this season, running until 25 October 2026; together the two give a full picture of the old book in the National Museum’s care.
• Jagiellonian University Museum Collegium Maius - the Jagiellonian Globe, a 1054 astrolabe and other early instruments of the university, the objects you see here only as engravings. The Globe Rooms are on the guided route only.
• The Faces of Czapski - an exhibition about the collector’s grandson, on at the National Museum in Krakow - Main Building from 18 September 2026 to 31 January 2027; a Main Building ticket also covers the permanent exhibitions at the Czapski branch.

Museum profile: Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum .