Main Building
al. 3 Maja 1
30-062 Kraków
tel. (48-12) 295 55 82
e-mail: pusoska@muz-nar.krakow.pl
History of the Decorative Art Conservation Studio
1868 – establishment of the Museum of Technology and Industry. After its liquidation in 1950 a substantial part of the museum's collections were transferred to the Department of Decorative Art and Material Culture of the National Museum in Krakow.
1876 – transfer of the Princes Czartoryski collection from Paris to Krakow. After the collection was nationalised in 1949 it was transferred to the National Museum in Krakow. In 1992 it became the property of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation, though it remained under the conservational care of the National Museum.
1879 – establishment of the National Museum in Krakow.
1889 – establishment of the Department of Decorative Art and Material Culture.
1901 – enactment of the Statute of the National Museum in Krakow which defined the thematic scope of the Department of Decorative Art and Material Culture.
In the period preceding World War I and in the twenty-year interwar period there was no conservation studio for decorative art in the National Museum in Krakow. However, the Museum made every effort to ensure that its artefacts were kept in good condition: reports from that period contain information about private artistic and craftsmen's workshops being commissioned to carry out restoration and repair work on valuable objects.
During World War II many artefacts were lost due to seizure or liquidation of storage facilities. The collections were therefore taken, hastily and without proper packing, to unsuitable backup storage facilities, where their condition deteriorated even further.
1948 – establishment of the Ceramics and Decorative Art Conservation Studio, which was actually operational from 1956 to 1974.
The Decorative Art Conservation Studio has been operating since 1975. In particular periods the scope of its work has changed. In 1993 a new division of responsibilities between the Museum's studios came into force – since then the Decorative Art Conservation Studio has been responsible for conservation, restoration and renovation of ceramic and glass objects and artefacts made of organic materials.
The studio serves all twenty-one departments of the Museum, though most of its work is for the Departments of Decorative Art and Material Culture, European Decorative Art, Far Eastern Art, and Antiquities.
The studio performs full and partial conservation as well as preservation work. Over the last 20 years an average of 450 objects a year have been conserved. The studio keeps conservation documentation, both descriptive and photographic. For several years the studio has been involved in a research project in cooperation with AGH University of Science and Technology.
Since 1998 the Studio Director Anna Pusoska has organised national conventions on the subject of analysis, conservation and storage of glass artefacts.
Staff:
Studio Director: Anna Pusoska – Senior Conservator
Małgorzata Pisulińska – Conservator
Elżbieta Kuraś – Renovator
