After the count’s death, and in accordance with his family’s wishes, an autonomous museum was established in the Czapski Palace at Piłsudskiego Street in Krakow. In 1903 this, along with the collections of the Municipal Borough of Krakow, was donated to the MNK. From 1939 out of bounds to the wider public, accessible only by Polish and foreign scholars and fragmentarily at occasional temporary exhibitions, these collections nevertheless continued to grow with successive gifts and acquisitions, but the building itself served as a store and administrative space. In 2009 the MNK launched a project entitled “European Centre of Polish Numismatics” in order to bring this collection out of storage and put it on permanent display.

The project covered the restoration of the nineteenth-century Czapski Palace and its conversion into a state-of-the-art numismatics exhibition, research and educational centre. The Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum, which was the first branch of the MNK, was re-opened to visitors in 2013, after more than 70 years.

The museum has also been preparing to begin the extension of the rear wing, which abuts the Łoziński House adjoining the palace; the townhouse itself had previously been restored with funds from the Citizens’ Committee for Restoration of Krakow’s Monuments and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The garden behind the townhouse will be recultivated and a Czapski pavilion built. In addition there will be a museum with access to the digitalized archive of Józef and Maria Czapski.
One of the promotional campaigns organized to support the creation of the European Centre of Polish Numismatics was another cycle of lectures on selected numismatics issues accompanied by presentations of pieces from the collections of the museum’s Numismatics Room, events which are now attended by a loyal audience.

The venture was financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the “Infrastructure and Environment" Operating Programme, and by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage via the state budget.

Project duration: 2009-2013
Project value: 23 192 893,02 PLN 
Value of European Union financing: 19 660 253,35 PLN 

Honorary Committee of the European Centre for Polish Numismatics Project at the National Museum in Krakow:

Bogdan Zdrojewski – Minister of Culture and National Heritage
Dr Jarosław Gowin – Minister of Justice
Prof. Marek Belka – President of the National Bank of Poland
Jerzy Miller – Voivode of Małopolska
Marek Sowa – Marshal of the Małopolskie Voivodeship
Prof. Jacek Majchrowski – Mayor of the City of Krakow
Lech Kokociński – Honorary President of the Polish Numismatics Society
Stanisław Kracik – Voivode of Małopolska in the years 2009–2011
Prof. Mariusz Mielczarek – President of the Polish Numismatics Society
Prof. Borys Paszkiewicz – Chairman of the Numismatics Committee at the Polish Academy of Sciences
Prof. Stanisław Suchodolski – numismatist, Member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
Henryk Woźniakowski – President of the Society of Friends of the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum
Marek Nawara (d. 2011) – Marshal of the Małopolskie Voivodeship
Sławomir Skrzypek (d. 2010) – President of the National Bank of Poland