Another edition of the unique series of art and nature workshops, ‘Butterflies and Stems’, aimed at children aged 4 to 6 and their carers, is now behind us. This year’s sessions were a direct response to the huge interest generated by last year’s edition of the project, which in 2025 was recognised by parents in the prestigious ‘Słoneczniki’ poll. We sincerely hope that this year’s edition brought all participants just as much satisfaction and inspiration.
During the sessions, we demonstrated that the rich art collections and the diversity of the flora and fauna around us provide an excellent starting point for exploring the world together through creativity. Each session combined two forms of education – a tour of the exhibition galleries at the National Museum in Kraków and an outdoor component, during which participants experienced nature first-hand. The programme was rich in a variety of interdisciplinary topics. Among other things, the youngest children learnt how weather phenomena were explained in ancient times, and they also had the opportunity to touch the natural materials from which medieval masterpieces were created. The architecture of human dwellings was contrasted with the shelters built by animals, whilst careful observation allowed participants to see how nature comes to life in spring. Participants also spotted birds from the terrace of the MNK Sukiennice, built their own insect hotels and planted flowers particularly associated with the work of MNK Wyspiański.
A wonderful addition to each session were presentations of beautiful reproductions of old botanical books and herbariums from the collections of the MNK Czartoryski Museum.
The high academic and artistic standard of the sessions was ensured by the museum’s educators, Anita Chmiel and Anna Pomykalska-Marczuk. Meanwhile, experts from the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences, led by Małgorzata Łaciak, shared their specialist scientific knowledge of the natural world with us.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all our young and older explorers for learning together, engaging in creative play and observing the world with such attention. We invite you to view the photo gallery below, where we have captured the most beautiful moments from our shared sessions.
The sessions were organised as part of the project: ‘The MNK Czartoryski Museum – extension and refurbishment of the National Museum branch in Kraków’.
The project is co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund under the ‘European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment 2021–2027’ Programme, PRIORITY VII: Culture, Area 1: Development of cultural infrastructure (listed and non-listed).
