Medieval and Early Modern Art Collection (National Museum in Gdansk)

What to expect

The Medieval and Early Modern Art Collection (Oddział Sztuki Dawnej) of the National Museum in Gdansk is the place for anyone who wants to see old European art and historic crafts within the walls of a former Franciscan monastery on ul. Toruńska. The museum collects art here from the 12th to the early 20th century, above all Dutch, Flemish and German, with a particular emphasis on Gdansk.

The museum says that the branch shows four permanent galleries: ceramics, goldsmithing and pewter, and the exhibition “Pobożni i cnotliwi” (The Pious and the Virtuous). According to the pomorskie.travel portal, its full title is “Pobożni i cnotliwi. Dawni Gdańszczanie w zwierciadle sztuki” (The Pious and the Virtuous: Gdansk People of the Past in the Mirror of Art), and the branch also has a film show devoted to Hans Memling’s triptych “The Last Judgment”.

The triptych itself is another matter. In April 2026 pomorskie.travel wrote that “The Last Judgment” was temporarily off display, and in September 2026 the museum announced a grant to prepare the ground floor of the branch for its new display. If Memling is your main reason for coming, call the museum before your visit and ask whether the painting is on show yet.

Visitors rate the place well: the “Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku” place card on Google Maps, assigned to the branch’s address, has 4.5 out of 5 from 2850 reviews (read on 25 October 2026).

Who it suits: lovers of old painting and decorative arts, especially Dutch, Flemish and German art, and anyone curious about the people of old Gdansk, the subject of the exhibition “Pobożni i cnotliwi”. If you are after goldsmiths’ work, pewter and ceramics, there are three separate galleries for them here.

Who should skip it: wheelchair users who want to see everything. The building has no lift or platform lift, every floor is reached by stairs, not all galleries on the ground floor are accessible, and the Pewter Gallery (Galeria Cyny) can only be reached by stairs.

How long: the museum does not give a visiting time. Allow about an hour and a half for the four permanent galleries, and rather more once the Memling triptych is on show again; this is our estimate.

Tips

• Leave yourself time. According to the visiting rules, the last entry is earlier than the branch’s closing time, so with an hour and a half for the galleries, do not arrive at the end of the day. The opening hours are in the practical information box.
• A day without a charge. Once a week the branch admits visitors on different terms: free admission on Tuesdays. The museum writes that this rule applies across the whole National Museum in Gdansk, not just this branch.
• A pass for several branches. The 7-day ticket gives one entry to the permanent and temporary exhibitions of every branch of the museum within seven days of purchase; there is also an annual bearer ticket. It makes sense if you plan several branches within a week; the prices are in the price list on the museum’s website (linked in the practical information box).
• Discounts for students and families. Standard tickets: standard ticket 25 PLN (about 6 EUR), reduced 20 PLN (about 5 EUR). Pupils and students aged 7-26 have their own ticket, much cheaper than the reduced one, and family or friends groups of 3 to 8 people pay a per-person rate; the amounts are in the museum’s price list.
• Heavy door, bell at the entrance. The very heavy entrance door opens inwards; after you press the bell, museum staff or security will help. An accessible toilet is on the ground floor and on the first floor, there is an induction loop at the ticket office, and you can connect online with a sign-language interpreter.
• Lockers, play corner, no changing table. In the public part of the building there are a coat rack and self-service lockers, and by the ticket office a self-play area for children and a place to rest. There is no baby-changing table, so with an infant plan for that before you go in.
• Guided tours for groups. Guided tours for adults, in groups of up to 30 people, are given in Polish or English and are paid for separately, on top of the entry ticket; the price is in the museum’s price list.

Getting there

• Address: Toruńska 1, 80-822 Gdańsk, in the building of the former Franciscan monastery.
• Bus: according to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, the nearest stop is “Toruńska 01” (about 85 m in a straight line), served by lines 106, 108, 111, 123, 132, 154, 183, 189, 208, 289 and M32 and the night lines N1, N4, N9, N78 and N89. At “Toruńska 02” (about 159 m) lines 108, 132, 154, 189, 208, 289 and M32 and the night lines N1, N4 and N89 stop, and at “Muzeum Narodowe 01” and “Muzeum Narodowe 02” (about 119 and 172 m) lines 106 and 111 and the night lines N9 and N78.
• Tram: according to the same timetable, the stops “Okopowa 02” and “Okopowa 01” (about 217 and 226 m) are served by lines 8 and 9, and “Śródmieście SKM 01” (about 292 m) by lines 2, 3, 6 and 7.
• By car: the branch has no car park of its own for visitors and no parking spaces for people with disabilities; the nearest paid car park is on ul. Rzeźnicka.

Nearby

Three places that are easy to add to a visit on ul. Toruńska (distances in a straight line):

• Uphagen House , ul. Długa 12 - about 460 m. After the exhibition on the people of old Gdansk in art, you can see the living and service rooms of a townhouse here; this branch of the Museum of Gdansk calls itself the only 18th-century burgher townhouse in Poland open to visitors and gives at least 30 minutes for the visit.
• Blue Lamb Granary , ul. Chmielna 53 - about 530 m. The Archaeological Museum shows more than a thousand original artefacts here, among them in the exhibitions “Miasto pod miastem” (City beneath the City) and “Gdańsk w świecie Hanzy” (Gdansk in the World of the Hanse); it recommends at least an hour for an unhurried walk through all the rooms.
• Gallery of Old Toys , ul. Piwna 19/21 - about 580 m. A good pairing for families: instead of old art, Polish toys from 1920-1989, which the gallery presents as an attraction for children.

Background

Visitors here enter walls that have served exhibitions for more than a hundred years. According to the English Wikipedia, the main location of the National Museum in Gdansk is the former late-Gothic Franciscan monastery, where exhibits have been shown since the end of the 19th century. The Polish Wikipedia calls the Department of Old Art the museum’s principal department, housed in its original seat, and the museum itself describes this branch as its oldest.

The building is still changing. In September 2026 the museum announced that it had received a targeted grant from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to prepare the ground floor of the branch for a new display of Memling’s triptych “The Last Judgment” and of medieval liturgical vestments. For visitors this means that the layout of the ground-floor display may change in the near future.