News
SCHOOL SEASON:
TUESDAY - THURSDAY 09.00-16.00
FRIDAY - 10.00-17.00
SATURDAY - 11.00-18.00
SUNDAY - 12.00-16.00
MONDAY - closed
Contact for media representatives: Łukasz Bartkowiak, phone 782170579, lukasz.bartkowiak@muzarp.poznan.pl
Note for the press
The Archaeological Museum in Poznań has already grown into the landscape of the city’s cultural institutions. In our rich collection from different parts of the world you can find outstanding treasures of the past, including the obelisk of pharaoh Ramsses II, Egyptian statues and papyri, Sudanese intricate pottery and beads, African petroglyphs, richly furnished graves of Neolithic princesses found in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland), a wealth of Early Medieval silver ornaments, to mention only a few.
However, not many of our visitors know about the old age of our institution. In 2017, the Museum celebrated its 160th anniversary! Its beginnings can be traced back to 1857, when the Museum of Polish and Slavic Antiquities was established at the Poznań Society for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences to collect memorabilia related to the oldest history of our nation. The museum changed its seats, organisation, and names many times only to become an independent institution in 1940, after it was separated from the former Wielkopolskie Museum. Since 1967, the museum has been located in the Górka Palace in Wodna Street.
Two people had a strong influence on the Museum’s profile and activity. The first one was Professor Józef Kostrzewski, a long-time director, one of the co-founders of the Poznań University, researcher of Biskupin, a teacher and educator of many renowned archaeologists. He was the founder of the so-called Poznań School of Polish Archaeology, which was highly valued by scholars in Poland and abroad. The second outstanding personality closely associated with the Museum was Professor Lech Krzyżaniak, the organiser of excavations in Egypt and Sudan, the man who initiated and developed an important centre of African research, recognisable in the world.
The Wielkopolska region and Africa are currently the main profiles of our activity. We are also involved in the archaeology of Poznań, initiating and participating in many projects that are vital for studying especially the issues related to the Early Medieval city. Above all, however, we are a museum institution, focused on contact with a wide and demanding audience, promoting the achievements of archaeology and popularising knowledge about the past. We organise exhibitions and educational events for people of all ages.
We are also active outside the walls of our Museum, organising events of a popular-science character (such as annual Festivals of Slavic and Cistercian Culture in Ląd on the Warta river), which enjoy great popularity. Other aspects of our activity include the organisation of nationwide and international conferences on European and African archaeology as well as the release of research-related and popular-science publications.
Our rich collection is often investigated by archaeologists who are seeking answers to various research questions, and by students, to whom artefacts remain invaluable teaching material. The Museum has its own research archives, a library, a conservation lab, and a photography studio.
The Archaeological Museum in Poznań has already become a part of history, but we, its current staff members, following the example of our predecessors, are shaping its contemporary image and planning for its future. For it remains our desire to serve science and the society, with which we are permanently connected.
The Archaeological Museum in Poznań is a Municipal Institution of Culture, financed by the City of Poznań.
