In the period leading up to the First World War and during the interwar period, there was no craft conservation workshop at the National Museum in Kraków. This does not mean, however, that no efforts were made to preserve the condition of the artefacts. Reports from those years contain information about commissioning private workshops run by artisan artists to restore and repair valuable objects.
The Second World War resulted in losses not only due to the requisitioning of artefacts, but also due to the closure of storerooms, from which objects were removed in haste and without proper packaging, and subsequently placed in makeshift premises where they fell into disrepair.
In 1948, the Workshop for the Conservation of Ceramics and Artistic Crafts was established; however, it was only active between 1956 and 1974, and in 1975 it was transformed into the Workshop for the Conservation of Artistic Crafts. The scope of its activities varied during the different periods of its operation. Since 1993, a new scope of responsibilities for museum workshops has been in force, which remains valid to this day.
The Artistic Crafts Conservation Workshop specialises in the conservation of ceramic, glass and organic-material objects. It looks after an extensive collection of artefacts: glass and ceramic vessels ranging from ancient to contemporary, clay figurines, sculptures and 20th-century ceramic compositions, stained-glass windows, paintings on glass, enamelled, inlaid and Far Eastern lacquer-coated objects, feather fans and other costume accessories, various types of jewellery and trinkets, as well as items made from bone, coral, mother-of-pearl, dried fruit, grasses, wicker and composite materials.
The Workshop carries out comprehensive, partial and preventative conservation treatments, utilising currently available conservation agents and materials, whilst the work itself is based mainly on non-invasive research methods.
A significant part of the workshop’s activities is devoted to preventative conservation: ensuring appropriate storage conditions for the collections in the depots and their correct display at exhibitions at the National Museum in Kraków; carrying out inspections to monitor the condition of the artefacts; providing conservation supervision during the organisation of exhibitions; and issuing conservation opinions and recommendations, etc.
The Laboratory has conserved and prepared artefacts for display in numerous exhibitions organised by the National Museum in Kraków and other institutions, including
One of the Studio’s most interesting projects was the conservation of the eglomised altar from Biecz (carried out between 2007 and 2011 by Anna Pusoska together with conservator Sławomir Oleszczuk from the conservation firm Olestudio), which concluded with a demonstration and a conservation seminar in May 2013.
From 1998, for a period of ten years, the then head of the Workshop, Anna Pusoska, organised nationwide meetings on the research, conservation and storage of historic glass.
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