Krakow Bobbin Lace - A Living Heritage

The exhibition “Krakow Bobbin Lace - A Living Heritage” (Krakowska koronka klockowa - żywe dziedzictwo) showed work by contemporary Krakow lacemakers, gathered in a single room, 18 September 2026 - 31 October 2026 , at Krzysztofory Palace, a branch of the Museum of Krakow.

Museum of Krakow on the exhibition (attributed translation):

2026 marks ten years since Krakow bobbin lace was inscribed on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. To mark the occasion, the Krakow Region Lacemakers Association, together with the Museum of Krakow - Intangible Heritage Interpretation Centre, invites you to the exhibition “Krakow Bobbin Lace - A Living Heritage”. The inscription on the National List covers not only surviving objects or historical patterns but, above all, the knowledge and skills passed on from one person to the next. Krakow bobbin lace remains exactly such a living practice. Olga Szerauc, Zofia Dunajczan and Jadwiga Węgorek hold an important place in the history of Krakow lacemaking; their work and designs helped to preserve and develop the technique. Another important figure for research on Polish lacemaking is Maria Modés-Dudrewiczowa - formerly head of the lace school in Zakopane, and connected with Krakow after her retirement. Here she self-published instructional handbooks on various lacemaking techniques. Her output is now the subject of further research and of attempts to reconstruct historical patterns. Today’s community of tradition bearers consists of a dozen or so women actively engaged in lacemaking, and the Krakow Region Lacemakers Association has about 20 members. Knowledge and skills are passed on individually and at regular joint workshop meetings devoted to learning, exchanging experience and working on patterns. The exhibition presents work by contemporary Krakow lacemakers. Alongside pieces based on historical patterns, it includes reconstructions and original designs. This shows different ways of taking up the tradition: from preserving and passing on historical skills to independent design and the rereading of old technical solutions. Reconstructing a historical piece of lace can be more than recreating its appearance. Analysing the source and the pattern, identifying the stitches, choosing the material, recreating the way the thread was guided and solving problems of execution make it possible to test in practice the information preserved in old pattern books and handbooks. In this way the practice of making becomes a tool for understanding the historical craft of lacemaking. Ten years after the inscription, Krakow bobbin lace remains a tradition that is passed on, practised, researched, reconstructed and creatively developed.

What to expect

The museum describes the exhibition as an artistic intervention, shown together with the Intangible Heritage Interpretation Centre of Krakow . It was part of the permanent exhibition “Krakow from the Beginning, without End”: it occupied the room devoted to Krakow folk dress.

The exhibition was organised by the Museum of Krakow and the Krakow Region Lacemakers Association (Stowarzyszenie Koronczarek Ziemi Krakowskiej), and its curator was Justyna Łukaszewska-Haberkowa. It was part of the European Heritage Days 2026 programme. It was co-funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, under the patronage of the National Heritage Board of Poland (Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa) and the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University.

Context

Bobbin lace is made from many threads wound on bobbins: the lacemaker interlaces them in groups of four, braiding and twisting the threads into a pattern. The technique itself has been known since the 16th century. Krakow bobbin lace was entered on the national list of intangible cultural heritage on 26 October 2016, so the tenth anniversary of the entry fell during the exhibition.

Tickets and time

Ticket: there was no separate ticket. Entry was included in the ticket for the permanent exhibition “Krakow from the Beginning, without End”, and the lace room could be seen during the permanent exhibition’s opening hours. The prices of that ticket are on the museum’s profile.

Where: on the first floor of Krzysztofory Palace ; the address and directions are on the museum’s profile.

Time needed: about 15-20 minutes was enough for the lace in its single room, on top of the visit to the permanent exhibition.

Who it was for: people interested in handicraft and textiles, and those who wanted to see how one Krakow community of lacemakers takes up old patterns today. Also anyone visiting the permanent exhibition anyway. Who could skip it: anyone who would have come to Krzysztofory for this show alone; it was a stop on the permanent exhibition route, not a reason for a separate visit.

After the show

Bobbin lace did not leave Krzysztofory Palace when the exhibition closed: the museum’s events calendar announced a bobbin lace workshop for 9 November 2026, led by members of the Krakow Region Lacemakers Association, with booking at the Visitor Service Centre.

Other exhibitions at Krzysztofory Palace:

• Under a Knitted Sky - Installation
• A View of the Krakowianki - Tola Certowicz
• Krakow in the Works of Anastasiia Kurakova

Other exhibitions in Krakow:

• Intersections. Papercuts by Anna Wencel
• Citizen Cepelia

Museum profile: Krzysztofory Palace .