The Seat of museum
The museum management, administration and studios are located in the 18th century inn situated at Zamkowa 2 street, next to the castle. The main seat of the museum is located in the Royal Castle. The first Sanok castle was built by the Polish king Casimir III the Great (Kazimierz III Wielki) after 1341 in a place of the Ruthenian wooden stronghold. A wedding of the king Ladislaus II Jagiello (Władysław II Jagiełło) and his third wife Elizabeth Granowska (Elżbieta Granowska) took place in the castle chambers. Jagiello’s fourth wife Sophia of Halshany (Zofia Holszańska called Sonka) often stayed here in the time when she was a queen dowager already. The local representative of the royal administration (starosta) of the Sanok county, Mikołaj Wolski, commissioned by the queen Bona Sforza altered the Medieval castle in form of the Renaissance residence between 1523-1548. The chroniclers wrote an information on a stay of the Hungarian queen Isabella Jagiellon (Izabela Jagiellonka), sister of the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus (Zygmunt II August) (between 1555-1556) in the Sanok castle. False Dmitriy I (Dymitr I Samozwaniec) subsequent tsar, who married Marina Mniszech (Maryna Mniszechówna) a doughter of Sanok starosta, appeared in the castle in 1604. Numerous alters and demolition of some of the buildings during the Austrian period diminished architectural value of the object. The renovation works, being conducted since the beginning of the 90s, enabled to uncover or reconstruct many Renaissance arrangements and details. The rebuilding works of the southern wing of the castle began in the spring 2010. The works ended in the autumn 2011. Permanent exhibition of Zdzisław Beksiński's works has been arranged in the rebuilt wing. Ceremonial opening of the new Gallery of Zdzisław Beksiński took place on 18th May 2012. The Gallery has been opened for the public on 19th May 2012. In the first days the exhibition was visited by approx. 10 000 people. Current revitalization works on the castle hill include, inter alia, erecting the building of conferential hall and stores placed under the surface of the castle court. The castle hill has been surrounded with reconstructed Medieval defensive wall.

Royal castle in Sanok – the seat of museum

History of the institution
In 1934 the Sanok castle become a seat of the newly established Museum of Sanok Land. The castle was plundered in September 1939. Collections of the Museum Lemkiwszczyna placed in the Greek Catholic parish were moved to the castle according to Kreisschulrat Willy Huber’s order in 1940. German clerks had taken two precious 15th century icons away from the museum collection in 1943. In August 1944 withdrawing occupants took many precious relics, certain number of them have been found next to Legnica (the Lower Silesia province) after war. At the end of hostilities, the castle housed the army hospital and subsequently the armoury which functioned until 1946. When army abandoned the castle, the museum has resumed its activity. In 1968 the name of the institution was changed into the Historical Museum in Sanok. The institution was managed by: Dr Bolesław Skwarczyński (1934-1939), Leon Getz (1939-1944), Stefan Stefański (1944-1968), Janina Lewandowska (1968-1970), Edward Zając (1970-1990), Wiesław Banach (1990-2020).  Since 2020, dr Jarosław Serafin is a director.

Ceremonial opening of the new Gallery of Zdzisław Beksiński, 18-19.05.2012

Collections
Special position amid collections of the Sanok museum has the collection of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic church art. Its oldest relics are the 12th century engolpions found during the archaeological excavations in a cemetery once surrounded the church located in a stronghold situated nearby the village of Trepcza. Experts rank the collection of well-preserved 15th and 16th century icons as the masterpieces of the icon painting (inter alia, Christ Pantocrator from the 2nd half of the 15th c. from Nowosielce, the Virgin Hodegetria from the 16th c. from Paniszczów). The whole exposition, which includes a few hundred objects and chronologically reaches the beginning of the 20th c., brilliantly presents evolution of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church art. One of the castle chambers has been devoted to the Catholic church art. A few relics from the 15th and 16th century as well as the Rococo sculptures of the ‘Lvovian school’ draw special attention. We can also find here a painting by G. Pagani, ‘The Mourning over Christ’ which an original by Rubens is placed in the Royal Museum in Brussels. The collection of the sarmatian portrait consists of paintings partly coming from Załuski’s family pinacotheca. Painting of the ‘Lady with a fan’ by Gijsbert Sibilla (1598-1652), Dutchman being under the influence of Rembrandt Van Rijn is undoubtedly the greatest pride of this collection. Section of the Pokuttyian ceramics  numbers over 500 exhibits. Its artefacts are presented in the southern rebuilt wing of the castle. The Historical exposition is going to be extended after finishing all works connected with the rebuilt wing. In the basements of the wing we will display, inter alia, militaria and the observational shelter which was built on the castle hill by Germans in the 40s of the 20th c. Thousands of documents and photographs connected with our region are collected in the museum archive. The Archaeological collection consists of finds from the Stone Age to modern times. Artefacts found in the Horodyszcze stronghold in the village of Trepcza (situated nearby Sanok), among them a golden Celtic coin with the representations of Athena and Nike, occupies important place in this collection. Fundament of the rich section of modern art comprises works of the Polish artists remained in France. They are, among others: Olga Boznańska, Józef Pankiewicz, Tadeusz Makowski, Wacław Zawadowski, Wacław Żaboklicki, Ludwik Lille, Hanna Rudzka-Cybis, Jan Cybis, Emil Krcha, Jan Ekiert, Józef Jarema, Maria Sperling, Arika Madeyska and Edward Baran. The collection has also been enriched with paintings by Juliusz Studnicki, Otto Axer, Hanna Zawa-Cywińska, Janina Dobrzyńska. The Surnames of many outstanding artists are connected with the Sanok land, they are as follows: Leon Getz, Marian Kruczek, Izabela Rapf-Sławikowska, Anna and Tadeusz Turkowski. Zdzisław Beksiński occupies a prominent place among the sanok artists. Thanks to occasional purchases and numerous gifts crowned with Beksiński’s testamentary will, the museum has become an owner of thousands of his works after his tragic death. Drawings, sketches, graphics, art photographs, reliefs, sculptures, pictures and computer photomontages evidence each period of his artistic creativity. The museum has also number of recordings, movies, notes and documents referred to his life and work. Many of them, along with the equipment of artist’s Warsaw studio, has been placed in the permanent exhibition in the rebuilt wing.

Exhibitions of our collections organized out of the seat of Museum

Researching, popularizing and publishing activity
Apart from exhibiting activities, the Museum also carries out systematic conservational works and scientific studies over its rich collections. Results of research works are published in catalogues of the collections. Until now, there have appeared, inter alia, three volumes dedicated to Zdzisław Beksiński and the catalogues of works of: Marian Kruczek, Tadeusz M. Turkowski, Arika Madeyska and Hanna Zawa-Cywińska. Several significant to the region publications were prepared by the historical section of the museum. These are, inter alia, the catalogues such as ‘Medallions, medals and plaques’, ‘2nd Regiment of Podhale Rifles from Sanok’ and ‘Archival photographs, Sanok, volume 1 and 2’. The archaeological section in cooperation with the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cracow (since 2010 with University of Rzeszów, too) edits and publishes volumes of a yearbook ‘Acta Militaria Mediaevalia’. Moreover, each temporary exhibition is enriched with a catalogue or broacher. The Museum occasionally issues the limited bibliophilic editions, volumes of poetry and prose. The museum workers as well as people entitled by a director can use the museum library having along with the specialist literature of archaeology, history and history of art also precious section of the old prints and publications concerning the region. Popularizing activity of the Museum includes the museum lessons organized in cooperation with educational institutions of the region as well as the lectures for organized groups. Within 20 last years, the Historical Museum in Sanok was several times a co-organizer of the international sessions and scientific conferences concerning history of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church art and archaeology.

World of the Master Beksiński – cycle of events in the Philharmonic Orchestra in Cracow (2009)
and the Subcarpathian Philharmonic Orchestra in Rzeszow (2012)

‘Zdzisław Beksiński – Darkness of the subconscious’ exhibition
in the building of the European Parliament in Brussels (2010)

Visitors of the temporary exhibitions and those organized out of the seat of Museum
The Historical Museum in Sanok is annually visited by over 60 thousand people. There are tourists from France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, USA, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Slovakia and others. Similar amount of visitors from almost the whole world visit the museum web site www.muzeum.sanok.pl. The Podhalanians - 2nd Regiment of Podhale Rifles from Sanok, Sanok people at the Monte Cassino, Political 1944-1956, When Szwejk in Sanok stayed… – these are only certain very important to the region exhibitions prepared by the historical section. During last quarter century we presented in our chambers temporary exhibitions of: Mieczysław Janikowski, Otto Axer, Jan Ekiert, Jan Cybis, Józef Jarema, Maria Sperling, Marian Kruczek, Leszek Mądzik, Artur Nacht-Samborski, Maria Szulczewska de Regibus, Juliusz Studnicki, Edward Baran, Grzegorz Pabla, Janina Dobrzyńska, Arka Madeyska, Hanna Zawa-Cywińska, Waldemar Kuczma. The artists affiliated with the Sanok land showed their masterpieces on individual or grouped displays in the cycle of ‘The Salon of Sanok Artists’. The Museum organized dozens temporary exhibitions organized in significant cultural centres in Poland and Europe. It is worth mentioning that from December 1991 to March 1992 in the Dutch Museum of Religious Art in Uden was organized exhibition of the chosen icons from the collection of the Historical Museum in Sanok. Our icons were also exhibited in Hungary. The collections of works of Marian Kruczek, Józef Jarema and Leon Getz were presented in Cracow. Whereas dozens of exhibitions of Zdzisław Beksiński’s masterpieces had been presented in many big cities of Poland in last 20 years. Apart from Sanok, the greatest exhibition of works of the Sanok artist (Zdzisław Beksiński) was held in 2006 in the National Museum in Gdansk.

Unusual event entitled "World of the Master Beksiński" was organized in 2009 in the Philharmonic Orchestra in Cracow. During several evenings in this noble edifice, there was possibility to see Beksiński’s paintings and listen to concerts of the Master’s favorite music enriched with multimedia presentations prepared on motifs of his works. Similar event was held in 2012 in the Subcarpathian Philharmonic Orchestra in Rzeszow. In the building of the European Parliament in Brussels an exhibition entitled ‘Zdzisław Beksiński – Darkness of the subconscious’ was presented in 2010.

Photographs of the former museum exhibitions
and the photographic relations of certain temporary exhibitions organised
in the Historical Museum in Sanok

You can read more about history of the Sanok castle here...