Gdańsk Crane (Branch of the National Maritime Museum)

What to expect

The Gdansk Crane (Żuraw) is a museum in which the most important exhibit is the building itself: a medieval port crane which, according to the English Wikipedia, was the largest in Europe at the time. It was built in its present form in 1442-1444 and reopened after a renovation on 30 April 2024. Today it is a branch of the National Maritime Museum (Narodowe Muzeum Morskie).

The exhibition spans three floors and takes you to the port of Gdansk in the 17th century, which the museum calls the “golden age” of shipping. The museum describes it as multimedia, with immersive scenography. The high point of the route is the crane mechanism built of six-metre treadwheels.

Visitors rate the Crane very highly: on Google Maps it has 4.7 out of 5 from 4464 reviews (read on 25 October 2026). That is the same rating as the museum ship “Sołdek”, another branch of the same museum, but with a clearly larger number of reviews.

Who it suits: anyone curious about old technology and the port history of Gdansk: the exhibition tells the story of the port in the heyday of shipping, and its high point is the crane machine itself.

Who should skip it: wheelchair users and blind and partially sighted people. The museum states plainly that the building is not adapted for them: there is no lift, and a wheelchair user can only get onto the ground floor, where there is the ticket office, a film about the exhibition and a hologram showing how the Crane was built over the centuries.

How long: allow an hour, because according to the museum that is how long the average visit to the three floors takes. That makes the Crane a good short item on your plan.

Tips

• Wednesdays with a catch. According to the price list there is free admission on Wednesdays, but on that day the Crane opens later than on other days (on Wednesdays 13:00-17:00). The ticket office and last entry close before the museum does, so for a free visit come early, soon after opening, rather than late in the day.
• Combined ticket with the Centre. The museum sells a combined ticket for the Crane and the Maritime Culture Centre (without the interactive room), as well as a pass that also covers the museum’s main building and the museum ship “Sołdek”. The prices are in the price list on the museum’s website (linked in the practical information box).
• No more than 50 people at once. That is how many people may be inside the Crane at the same time, and a group goes in with up to 25 people. Guided tours in Polish or English are booked at rezerwacje.nmm.pl; the prices are in the museum’s price list.
• Captions in English too. The descriptions in the exhibition are in Polish and English, so the Crane also works for a visit with guests from abroad.
• Lockers and toilet. There are free lockers and a toilet on site, and the toilet adapted for disabled visitors is in the museum shop.
• Large Family Card. Holders of the Large Family Card (Karta Dużej Rodziny) pay less than the regular standard and reduced tickets, and a group carer (one per ten participants) pays a token amount; details are in the museum’s price list.
• Watch out for holidays. The National Maritime Museum closes all its branches on several public holidays; before a visit in the holiday season, check the list of closing days on the museum’s website.

Getting there

• Address: ul. Szeroka 67/68, 80-835 Gdańsk.
• Nearest stops: according to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, the stop closest to the Crane is “Żuraw 01” (about 46 m), followed by “Targ Chlebowy 01” (about 292 m) and “Targ Rybny 01” (about 337 m); all of them are served by line 100 only.
• Tram and bus: the museum directs visitors to the “Brama Wyżynna” stop and gives an 850 m walk from there, about 10 minutes. According to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, trams 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 stop there, as do buses 106, 108, 111, 112, 123, 132, 138, 154, 166, 178, 183, 186, 189, 208, 212, 289 and M32 and the night lines N1, N4, N5, N8, N9, N14, N78 and N89.
• SKM commuter rail: the museum suggests taking the SKM to Gdańsk Główny station and walking from there to the Crane; it gives 1200 m, about 15 minutes.
• By car: the museum has no free parking spaces for cars or coaches; there is only paid parking nearby. Two parking spaces for disabled people are 12 m in front of the Crane.

Nearby

Three other museums lie within about 320 m in a straight line, so a visit to the Crane is easy to combine with one of them:

• Maritime Culture Centre, ul. Tokarska 21-25 - about 50 m in a straight line. The museum sells a combined ticket for both places.
• Sołdek Museum Ship, ul. Ołowianka 9-13 - about 140 m in a straight line. It is included in the National Maritime Museum pass together with the Crane, so after the medieval crane you can see a steam ore-and-coal carrier, the first ship built in Gdansk after the Second World War.
• Artus Court, Długi Targ 43/44 - about 320 m in a straight line.