Kraków. Sounds, Melodies, Words

From 20 February to 11 October 2026, the Museum of Krakow showed an exhibition on the sound of the city at the House Under the Cross: four parts with a sound installation by Marcin Dymiter.

Museum of Krakow on the exhibition:

At the heart of the exhibition are the sounds of urban life that shape the identity of Kraków and the everyday experience of its residents.

The exhibition explores the transformations that have taken place in the city’s soundscape over the past century, while also highlighting the remarkable continuity of certain sonic phenomena. It is designed to be listened to as much as it is to be viewed.

A specially commissioned sound installation was created for the occasion, bringing past and present recordings into dialogue. Its author is Marcin Dymiter, a sound artist working in the fields of electronic music, field recording, and improvised music. In each gallery space, visitors encounter unique compositions built from archival audio materials and contemporary field recordings made in Kraków.

What to expect

This was a show you took in by ear. Across four parts you heard old trams grinding, vendors calling on the Main Square, Kraków’s bells, music boxes and gramophones, and in the attic the Hejnał from old Radio Kraków broadcasts. It gave most to Krakow residents curious about how their city sounded decades ago, and to families with children. It came with sound walks (“Listening to the City”), educational workshops and curator-led tours.

Objects worth slowing down for:

• The old clapper of the Sigismund Bell - on loan from Wawel Cathedral; the curator told Gazeta Krakowska it struck the bell from 1521 until Christmas 2000.
• Barrel organs and the trumpets of the Hejnal buglers - named by Gazeta Krakowska among the objects that accompanied the street and bugle-call recordings.
• Sound machines - music boxes, a phonograph, a portable gramophone, record players and a tape recorder, through to today’s mobile devices, in the section on music at home and in the street.
• Radio Kraków broadcasts from 1938-1939 - the oldest recordings the curator managed to find, played in the attic together with recordings made from the Krzemionki television tower.
• A maraca and a clavichord - listed by the museum among the instruments on display in its announcement of a family workshop.

The trailer the museum made for the exhibition is still available on YouTube:

Context

The Intangible Heritage Interpretation Centre of Krakow, a Museum of Krakow branch housed in the “House Under the Cross”, looks after the city’s living traditions. They include the Lajkonik parade and the craft of Krakow nativity scenes (szopki krakowskie), the first Polish tradition inscribed in 2018 on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Hejnal Mariacki bugle call, the subject of the exhibition’s fourth part, has been broadcast continuously on the radio since 1927. The second part explored the symbolic and social role of Krakow’s bells, including the Sigismund Bell at Wawel Cathedral, whose old clapper - on loan from the cathedral - was on display.

Tickets and time

Admission to the exhibition was paid: a regular ticket cost 26 PLN, discounted 22 PLN and a family ticket (up to four people) 52 PLN. Groups paid 16 PLN and school groups 11 PLN per person. Holders of Kraków’s resident card (Karta Krakowska) paid 20.80 PLN regular or 16 PLN discounted, and Large Family Card (Karta Dużej Rodziny) holders paid 13 PLN regular. The museum announced no free-admission day for this branch.

A comfortable visit that took in the sound installations needed about an hour. The exhibition was built to be listened to as much as looked at, so it moved more slowly than a purely visual show.

What the press says

RMF24 (16 Feb 2026, Renata Gaweł): the opening preview called the exhibition exceptional and presented it as a chance to discover Krakow through sound rather than sight - link (Polish-language source).

Polskie Radio Trójka (16 Feb 2026, Izabela Dudkiewicz/PAP): the opening coverage described the exhibition’s four thematic parts and the sound installation that blends archival recordings with contemporary field recordings - link (Polish-language source).

Gazeta Krakowska (18 Feb 2026, Anna Piątkowska): an opening interview with the curator. She singled out the old Sigismund Bell clapper and the 1938-1939 Radio Kraków broadcasts as exceptional, the broadcasts being hard to hear anywhere else - link (syndicated on Kraków Nasze Miasto; Polish-language source).

TVP3 Kraków (28 Apr 2026, Monika Socha): a regional TV report treating the visit as practice in listening to the city, highlighting the bell’s first clapper, first heard in 1521 - link (Polish-language source).

Curator Dr Monika Widzicka, on the bell clapper, to Gazeta Krakowska: “Over five centuries Kraków changed beyond recognition, but this sound stayed the same” (our translation).

Four press items, all factual and favourable, none critical. No in-depth review in the cultural press was found: the coverage consisted of opening-week reports and one TV feature from April.

Updates

• 2026-09-22 - dates and prices re-checked on the exhibition page and in the Museum of Krakow newsletters of 14 and 21 September: the show runs until 11 October 2026. The museum bills the 11 October curator tours as the last chance to see it. The city’s visitor site krakow.travel still lists 13 December 2026; the museum’s date is the one to trust. Added the events up to closing day, two press items and the museum’s trailer.

• 2026-09-13 - checked dates and prices on the museum’s own page - unchanged from what was already recorded (20 Feb 2026 - 11 Oct 2026, prices as above). Two secondary pre-opening sources (the krakow.pl city events calendar and a 16 Feb 2026 PAP wire item) list a different end date (13 Dec 2026). The exhibition’s own page on muzeumkrakowa.pl states 11 Oct 2026 unambiguously, so the date on our page is left unchanged.

See also

• Krzysztofory Palace - the Museum of Krakow’s main seat on the Main Square, home to the city’s collection of Krakow nativity scenes, the same intangible tradition the Centre looks after.
• Ethnographic Museum - folk culture and tradition in Kazimierz, a natural companion to the theme of intangible heritage.
• Rynek Underground - the archaeology of the old market square’s bustle, a few minutes’ walk from the House Under the Cross.

After the show

The exhibition closed on 11 October 2026 with a three-day finissage. On 9 October the show stayed open until 20:00, with an evening curator-led tour with music by the Saksofonarium quartet scheduled. The programme for 11 October listed Dr Monika Widzicka’s last two tours and performances by the barrel-organ player Kataryniarz Jan in the courtyard. The catalogue was sold at half price on those days.

The programme was due to end with a tour of the House Under the Cross led by Dr Andrzej Iwo Szoka. The museum billed it as the last chance to see the building as it has been until now. The Museum of Krakow has received FEnIKS funding for the building’s modernisation and gives the total project value as over 36 million PLN. According to its announcement, the rebuilt house is to gain a workshop space, a space with a stage and new exhibitions, among other things. The museum’s pages (as of 13 October 2026) give no schedule for the works, no reopening date and no next exhibition at the House Under the Cross, and the branch page still lists opening hours.

The book “Kraków. Dźwięki, melodie, słowa” that accompanied the exhibition (2025, 96 pages, paperback, ISBN 978-83-67828-44-4) is available from the Museum of Krakow shop for 30 PLN (price as of 13 October 2026). The museum gives no sign that the exhibition will be shown elsewhere.

The press received the exhibition favourably, but only in news coverage: RMF24 called it exceptional, and TVP3 Kraków presented the visit as practice in listening to the city. No attendance figures were found on the museum’s pages.

The Interpretation Centre is now showing its work outside the House Under the Cross:

• “Krakow Bobbin Lace - A Living Heritage” - the branch’s display in the Krakow costume room on the first floor of the Krzysztofory Palace, until 25 October 2026. It shows another of the city’s living traditions, this time in the hands of lacemakers.

Three current exhibitions in Krakow on a related theme:

• “Art and Trade. Krakow of Craftsmen” - the world of Krakow’s guilds and workshops from the 15th to the 20th century, until 25 October 2026; easy to combine with the lace, as both are at the Krzysztofory Palace.
• “Hotel Forum” - Podgórze Museum, until 10 January 2027; the story of the hotel on the Vistula told through the memories of its former staff, the city’s memory handed down by people.
• “Citizen Cepelia” - National Museum in Krakow, Main Building, until 21 February 2027; how ideas of folk culture and tradition were shaped in communist Poland.

Museum profile: Intangible Heritage Interpretation Centre of Krakow .