address:
Gdańsk, ul. Toruńska 1
Description:
The National Museum houses a collection of old paintings and other crafts. The most famous work is The Last Judgment, a painting by Hans Memling.
The National Museum in Gdańsk is located in what was the former Franciscan monastery, built-in the late Gothic style in the first haft of XV century. When the Reformation took over in Gdańsk, the monks left the town, handing over the building to the town thirties „solely for academic purposes” in 1555. Here accommodationwas found for the Town Council Library and small part bearing the name of the Academic „Gymnasium” (Grammars School) as from 1643. The ground – floor rooms originating from these times are: the Chapter – House, Library, Large and Small Refectory, and the Cloisters skirting the monastery garden. The idea of calling into being a museum took shape in the mid – XIX century. It was here that the sculptor Rudolf Freitag (1845 – 1868), when he collected antique items and applied to the Prussian authorities for permission to open a museum in what was then a deteriorating historical building. The basis for the rebuilding and organizing of a museum was afforded by Johann Gottfried Klose’s (1794 – 1868) bequest. 1872 saw the opening of the Town Museum (Stadtmuseum), to which the collections of the Museum of the Artistic Crafts (Kunstgewerbemuseum) were added. The works of art and artistic crafts collected then and in the following decades, thanks to the social initiatives and funds, continue to constitute the essential part of the Gdańsk merchant Jacob Kabrun (Cockborn; 1759 – 1814), successively replenished during the XIX century by his son August. Mediaeval Art was supplied by churches, much of the artistic crafts came from the local organizations, mainly the guilds, as well as the collections of Ludwig Garbe, Lesser Giełdziński, Friedrich Bassner and others. Another important role was played by gifts from Gdańsk and Pomorze families: the Konopackis, Stumpfs, Trauschkes, Luisa Berghold’s, Adolf Mundt’s and Friedrich Henning’s. In 1937, the evangelist parish of St. Mary’s Church bequeathed madiaeval ornaments (541 items) and several liturgical vessels.
