Muzeum Historyczne i Muzeum Sztuki Medalierskiej, Wrocław

The Historical Museum and Museum of Medallic Art fill Wrocław’s former Royal Palace on Kazimierza Wielkiego Street. The building’s story starts in 1719, when Baron Heinrich Gottfried Spaetgen acquired a small house and garden here. Its baroque layout places the residence between a forecourt and garden, and the baroque garden still extends behind the palace.

The Historical Museum began in 1948. After periods within other institutions and in premises at the Town Hall and Cloth Hall, it moved into this palace following a decision made in 2000. Inside, the permanent exhibition “A Thousand Years of Wrocław” follows the city from the establishment of its bishopric through to modern times.

More than three thousand objects—documents, tools, jewellery, paintings and sculpture—build that long narrative. One especially remarkable interior is the Beyersdorf Room, transferred here from a burgher house on Plac Solny. It holds Silesia’s largest group of Delft-style faience tiles, known for their intense blue decoration, alongside porcelain from renowned manufactories. A major seven-year restoration concluded in 2008, and the renewed museum opened in April 2009.