Cracovia - 120 Years of History

From 18 August to 30 September 2026, the Museum of Krakow showed nine boards and two display cases on 120 years of Cracovia Sports Club at Krzysztofory Palace, made with the club’s fans.

The Museum of Krakow on the exhibition (translated from the museum’s Polish description; no English page for this exhibition was found on the museum’s site):

We invite you to an exhibition presenting the multi-threaded, 120-year history of Cracovia Sports Club.

Across nine display boards, the exhibition presents the most important moments in the history of the multi-section Cracovia, recalling the achievements of athletes who represented the club in various sporting disciplines, including at the Olympic level.

A special place in the exhibition is reserved for Józef Kałuża - one of the most important figures in the history of Cracovia and Polish football. A dedicated display case devoted to him introduces the outstanding footballer, coach and symbol of pre-war Cracovia.

The second special part of the exhibition is a display case devoted to the club’s multi-section history. It is a reminder that for 120 years the red-and-white colours were worn by athletes of many disciplines, and that from its very beginnings Cracovia was a club with a much broader sporting identity.

The exhibition “Cracovia 120 Years of History” is an opportunity to look at the club’s history from a wider perspective - through the lens of the people, disciplines, achievements and events that, over the following decades, shaped the identity of Poland’s oldest sports club.

The exhibition, prepared for Cracovia’s 120th anniversary jubilee, was created in cooperation between the club and its fans. A group of fans led by Tomasz Siemieniec worked on preparing the exhibition, while the project was coordinated by Robert Makowski, Head of Historical Projects.

The exhibition at Krzysztofory Palace can be viewed until the end of September. It is a must-see for anyone who wants to learn more about Cracovia’s 120-year history.

What to expect

The exhibition was not another commemorative club album but an attempt to tell Cracovia’s 120 years through its people, its sports and its milestones. At its centre stood a display case devoted to Józef Kałuża, the footballer and coach who ranks among the key figures in Polish football history. A second case made the point that Cracovia had been a multi-sport club from the start, with athletes in many disciplines, Olympians among them, wearing its colours.

Context

KS Cracovia, founded on 13 June 1906, is Poland’s oldest continuously operating sports club; in 1921 it became the first Polish football champion, and its colours were later worn in many other sports. Józef Kałuża, honoured with his own display case in the exhibition, was one of the club’s most popular players and later coached the Polish national team in the 1930s. During the German occupation he refused to take a post in matches organised by the Nazi authorities. He died in 1944.

Tickets and time

The exhibition page never said which ticket covered it. The branch price list offered two: the permanent-exhibition ticket (34 PLN, reduced 29 PLN) and the Palace Ticket, which combined the permanent exhibition with the temporary one (45 PLN, reduced 35 PLN). Free Tuesday admission covered the permanent exhibition only.

Thirty to 45 minutes was enough for the nine boards and two cases. The show was chiefly for Cracovia fans and sports-history enthusiasts. For the wider story of the city, the permanent exhibition “Krakow from the Beginning, Without End” in the same palace remains the better choice.

What the press says

Magiczny Krakow / krakow.pl (03.09.2026, photos by Piotr Wojnarowski): the photo report presents archival memorabilia, photographs, documents, trophies, 1950s membership cards and mementos of the club’s sections as a picture of Cracovia’s many-sided identity. Promotional tone, no critical assessment - link .

See also

• The permanent exhibition at Krzysztofory Palace - “Krakow from the Beginning, Without End” tells the city’s story in several hundred objects and is still open in the building that housed the Cracovia show.
• Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory - its permanent exhibition on Krakow under German occupation, 1939-1945, shows the city in which Józef Kałuża refused to take a post in matches organised by the Nazi authorities.

After the show

“Cracovia - 120 Years of History” closed on 30 September 2026. By 4 October the museum no longer listed it among the exhibitions at Krzysztofory Palace. Nothing on the museum’s pages suggests the show will travel, and no catalogue was found.

The press did not review the exhibition: the only coverage found is a photo report by the city’s Magiczny Krakow service from 3 September 2026. It calls the show a “fascinating story” in a promotional tone, with no critical assessment; the museum has published no attendance figures.

Two temporary exhibitions of the Museum of Krakow are now on at Krzysztofory Palace, both until 25 October 2026:

• “Art and Trade. Krakow of Craftsmen” - the world of Krakow’s guilds and workshops from the 15th to the 20th century, another story of the communities that shaped the city’s identity.
• “Krakow Bobbin Lace - A Living Heritage” - marking ten years of the lace on Poland’s National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Beyond the palace, “Hotel Forum” at the Podgórze Museum (until 10 January 2027) is worth a visit. It tells the story of the brutalist hotel, built, like the Cracovia show, from the mementos and recollections of its former staff.

Museum profile: Krzysztofory Palace - Museum of Krakow .