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An Exhibition at the National Museum, Krakow
July 14th - October 15th 2006
For many summers now, the main attraction of the National Museum has been off limits to all but a handful of curators and conservators. Given that some of the city's greatest treasures were squirreled away there, the wait has been a painful one to bear for art lovers. But six years down the line, the Gallery of Polish Art has reopened, and the results are quite simply a triumph.
This summer offers a superb chance to savour the results of the renovation, as not only has the top floor of the museum returned to fantastic form, a host of other attractions are fresh for the season. Top of the bill is the exhibition 'Fin-de-Siecle in Krakow', which draws back the curtain on the city's golden age in the arts. 
(Above) Curative Chocolate Wrapper from the Jama Michalika Confectionery, Krakow, designed by Henryk Uziemblo, c. 1906.
During the mid-nineteenth century, Cracow was a rather miserable place that had been reduced to stagnation by the occupying Austrian regime. Balzac described it as 'a corpse of a capital'. But the winning back of autonomy in 1866 served as a catalyst for regeneration. Cracow became the country's spiritual capital again, and as fortune would have it, Poland's greatest generation of artists was about to step onto the stage. It was Cracow that became their main stamping ground, and this exhibition provides a heady intro into that world.
Pronouncing the names of the artists on show may prove tricky, but the art speaks for itself. The museum has fished out all kinds of artefacts from the storerooms, with posters, sketches, furniture and even some delightful 100-year-old chocolate wrappers making an appearance (for a look at oil paintings, head upstairs to the permanent collection on the top floor). There's so much to take in that the exhibition will make a dizzying first impression, but settle in and the sheer abundance of talent will unfurl. Art Nouveau may not be everyone's cup of tea- or shot of absinthe - but this show is positively overflowing with inspiration. Don't miss it.
The National Museum, ul. 3 Maja 1, open daily bar Mondays
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