The Krakow National Museum houses the second largest art collection in Poland. It was founded in 1879 and today consists from 11 departments, located in historic buildings in the city centre. They display paintings, sculptures, engravings, applied art and collections of coins and illuminated manuscripts. The exposition of the main building located at 3 Maya street, devoted to the contemporary Polish art, mainly painters and sculptors of Krakow.
Also, there are collections of weapons and art crafts. The shopping arcade building the cloth hall presents an overview of the Polish art of XIX century. In the Museum exhibited Chartoryisky 400 canvases by masters of the major European art schools. The gems of the collection are the masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci's "Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani", also known as "Lady with an ermine" and Rembrandt's "Landscape with merciful Samaritan".
The National Museum also includes the houses-museums of famous artists of Krakow, Jan Matejko, Joseph Mehoffer, Stanisław Wyspiański and Karol Szymanowski.
