Access to the collection

The National Museum in Kraków permits filming of objects owned by the National Museum in Kraków that are in the public domain and not subject to conservation restrictions.

The National Museum in Kraków does not permit filming of objects:

those subject to economic copyright, where the National Museum in Kraków does not hold a valid legal title with the right to grant further licences, or where the licence does not cover the fields of exploitation requested by the client; and, in the case of objects owned by third parties, also where the owner of the object has not given their consent for the object to be made available for this purpose.

owned by third parties, for which the MNK does not hold a valid legal title to the property rights, including the right to grant further licences or the consent of the object’s owner to make it available for this purpose, unless the client submits the object owner’s consent in writing, as specified in the Regulations

excluded from photography for conservation reasons, based on the conservator’s opinion due to their state of preservation or ongoing conservation work

requiring transport or dismantling due to the fact that the manner of their storage or display prevents filming, where dismantling or transport of the object is not possible due to its state of preservation or other conservation considerations.

filming of which is not possible for technical reasons (access to the object, conditions that preclude the possibility of taking proper shots), and the organisation of transport/dismantling is restricted by the considerations set out in the point above.

Access for filming is granted following the signing of a filming access agreement. Due to the time required for arrangements and the processing of the agreement, applications submitted at too short notice—i.e. with less than 14 working days between the date of submission and the planned filming date—may not be processed. The Museum reserves this time, which is necessary to check the availability of the sites in terms of conservation, copyright and ownership. Permission to film is subject to a fee, in accordance with the current price list.

Please familiarise yourself with the REGULATIONS GOVERNING PERMISSION TO FILM MUSEUM OBJECTS AND EXHIBITIONS

Please submit requests for filming permission using the form available here and address them to one of the following people:

Guidelines on the loan of artefacts from the National Museum in Kraków

INTRODUCTION (loans within and outside the Republic of Poland)

The policy of the National Museum in Kraków is to make objects available whenever a loan is possible, that is to say, when an object is in a state of conservation that allows for its transport and display, and when it is not included in our own exhibition plans. Loans are an important part of making the national collections accessible to the widest possible audience and enabling them to be viewed in a new setting. We therefore endeavour to respond favourably to requests we receive. We frequently lend items from our collections to various institutions within the country, as well as to many museums and cultural institutions abroad. The National Museum in Kraków lends out over 400 items on a long-term basis each year, whilst around 3,500 items are lent out on a short-term basis. The decision regarding whether an item may be loaned out depends on a number of factors, which will be explained in this guide.

This guide is intended to provide support in successfully applying to borrow items from our collections. Following preliminary approval of the application, the borrower is expected to fulfil a number of conditions. The terms of loan, the loan policy, and the conditions that must be met by the borrowing institution are set out at the end of this guide.

The National Museum in Kraków has a Section for the Movement of Museum Objects and Academic Enquiries within the Inventories Department, which is responsible for coordinating loans from all departments of the Museum. Contact details can be found at the end of this guide.

Who can borrow objects? (in Poland and abroad)

The National Museum in Kraków considers loan applications submitted by any museum, gallery or other cultural institution. As a rule, objects are not loaned to private individuals. Objects are loaned for the purpose of public exhibition, specialist research or conservation work.

The decision regarding a loan depends on a number of factors, including:

Whether the objects are included in the Museum’s exhibition plans or have previously been requested for loan by another institution.

Whether the storage and display conditions comply with the standards adopted by the MNK

Whether the security measures at the proposed exhibition venue are adequate and comply with the requirements of the Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 2 September 2014 on the protection of museum collections against fire, theft and other dangers threatening their destruction or loss (Journal of Laws of 2014, item 1240)

Will the objects be made available to the public?

Is their state of preservation such that they can be transported?

Is the exhibition plan or concept consistent with the Mission of the National Museum in Kraków and does it correspond to the significance of the objects covered by the loan application?

When was the object last loaned out or exhibited? (This is important for requests to loan particularly fragile objects, such as papers or textiles)

How do I apply for a loan? (loans within Poland and abroad)

All applications for loans for exhibitions must be submitted in writing to the Director of the National Museum in Kraków or via our online application form. Please specify the following details in your application:

A list of objects with their National Museum in Kraków (MNK) inventory numbers

The dates and title of the exhibition or project.

The scope and conceptual plan of the exhibition or project.

Contact details of the organiser and/or the venue(s) of the exhibition, including an extract from the National Court Register (KRS), an entry in the Register of Cultural Institutions, etc.

If you are unsure which items you would like to borrow or which items the MNK holds in its collections, you should first contact the relevant curator, as they will be best placed to advise you on the selection of suitable items. Enquiries to the Departments should be made via the Section for the Movement of Museum Objects and Academic Enquiries, by emailing: bmaj@mnk.pl or pnowak@mnk.pl. We then recommend a visit to the Museum to view the items before submitting a loan application. Such a visit can be arranged with the curator of the relevant collection, also via the aforementioned Section.

Please ensure that you have sufficient time for the research described above and that, once you have obtained detailed information about the items, there is enough time to submit your application nine months in advance. Any application for a loan to a domestic institution must be submitted at least nine months before the expected loan date. For loans abroad, a period of one year is recommended.

Decision-making process (both versions)

Upon receipt of a loan application addressed to the Director of the National Museum in Kraków, it is forwarded to the Section for the Movement of Museum Objects and Academic Enquiries, which, based on the opinion of the collection curators and conservators, decides whether or not to proceed with the loan.

The application mayt 

The National Museum in Kraków makes digital documentation of items from its collections, which are not subject to copyright or ownership laws, available under the following terms:

a) photographs available for re-use:

in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 11 August 2021 on open data and the re-use of public sector information (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1641, as amended) and the Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 23 January 2023 on the maximum fees for the re-use of public sector information charged by state and local authority museums (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 282, as amended), by:

posting the photograph on the publicly accessible portal mnk.pl for the Customer to download themselves,

sending, by electronic means, photographs that already exist but are not hosted on the mnk.pl server,

b) photographs of objects for which no documentation exists or where the existing documentation does not meet the Customer’s needs:

fulfilling a special order from the Customer to take a photograph of the object,

The National Museum in Kraków makes items from its collections available for reproduction on the basis of a contract and subject to a fee.

Please submit requests to access an item by email to aralska@mnk.pl or rsawinska@mnk.pl, stating:

• the material in which you intend to produce the copy
• full details of the item
• any changes to the details of the copy compared to the original
• the dimensions of the copy
• the number of copies to be produced
• the scope of distribution of the copies
• a specification of the type of reproduction to be produced in accordance with clause II 1/b of the Regulations, if applicable

If you would like full details of the works in the MNK collection, which you will need when requesting photographs, permission to film or make copies, please contact the Inventories Department