Szolayski House (MNK)

What to expect

Szolayski House (Kamienica Szołayskich) is the branch of the National Museum in Krakow devoted to Polish design and architecture, and it sits about as centrally as a museum can: on the corner of plac Szczepański and Szczepańska street, a couple of minutes off the Main Market Square, next door to the Old Theatre and the Palace of Art. If your interests run to chairs, posters, everyday objects and buildings rather than old masters, this is the National Museum branch to pick.

The two permanent exhibitions are “Przedmioty” (Objects), the museum’s Gallery of Polish Design of the 20th and 21st centuries, and “Przekroje” (Sections), its Gallery of Polish Architecture of the same period. Together they make a compact survey of how Poland designed and built its modern everyday life - a story most visitors never encounter elsewhere in the city. On top of that runs a substantial temporary show: from 19 June 2026 to 13 June 2027 the house presents “Moda Polska w kolekcji Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie”, an exhibition of Polish fashion from the museum’s collection.

The building itself has a history worth a glance on the way in. Its origins go back to the 15th century, with its present shape the result of rebuildings in the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries, including works of 1815-1818 when plac Szczepański was laid out. The Szołayski family, landed gentry who owned the house from 1902, bequeathed it to the National Museum in 1904; after adaptation it opened at the end of 1934 as the branch named after Feliks “Manggha” Jasieński, one of the museum’s greatest donors. The interiors were last thoroughly modernised in 2012.

Visiting in practice

Is it worth timing your visit? Yes: Tuesday is the free-admission day for the permanent exhibitions, and it is also the one day with extended hours - 10:00 to 18:00, against 10:00 to 16:00 from Wednesday to Sunday. The house is closed on Mondays, and last visitors are admitted 20 minutes before closing, so with the early 16:00 close on most days do not leave it for the late afternoon.

Tickets are modest by Krakow standards: 18 PLN standard, 14 PLN reduced, 36 PLN for a family ticket, and a symbolic 1 PLN for pupils and students. Guided tours cost 170 PLN per exhibition on top of admission in Polish, 220 PLN in foreign languages. Tickets are sold at the desk (+48 12 433 54 51) and through the museum’s online ticketing system. An hour is enough for both permanent galleries plus the temporary show at an unhurried pace.

Accessibility is good for a historic townhouse: ramps and lifts make the collections available to visitors with disabilities, and wheelchair users are asked to use the entrance from Szczepańska street. Adapted toilets are available inside.

Getting there

The address is pl. Szczepański 9, at the north-west corner of the Old Town grid - two to three minutes on foot from the Main Market Square. The whole area is pedestrianised, so trams get you to the Planty ring (stops along Basztowa street and Podwale are closest) and the last stretch is a short walk.

Nearby

Directly across plac Szczepański stands the Bunkier Sztuki gallery , Krakow’s brutalist contemporary art venue - a natural pairing if design and architecture brought you here. The Czartoryski Museum with Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine is a few minutes away, and the National Museum trail continues at the Main Building on aleja 3 Maja and the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in the Sukiennice on the square itself. From the same wave of new profiles, the nearby MNK Arsenal covers the museum’s ancient art collection.