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Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology

Standing on the Wawel Hill and looking across the Vistula river, one will certainly notice the wavy, dynamic building of the Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology. The Manggha Centre, combining the calamity of a museum with active art popularization is one of Krakow's most unique cultural institutions – and though it has been here for a relatively short time, it has managed to blend into Krakow's atmosphere.

Feliks 'Manggha' Jasienski

The history of the Manggha Museum begins long before the building itself was erected, when, at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, Feliks “Manggha” Jasienski introduced his Japanese art collection to the Polish audiences in Krakow, Lviv and Warsaw. Though at first received with little enthusiasm, Japanese art – especially landscape painting – soon became an important point of reference for the Polish modernists. The Polish and Japanese traditions blended together to create a unique, new current called “Polish Japanism”.

After “Manggha” Jasienski's death in 1920, his enormous collection was handed down to the Krakow National Museum. However, the Museum's buildings didn't have enough place to store, not to mention exhibit, Jasienski's gifts, and little of it remained known to the general public.

When World War II came and the Nazis took over, Jasienski's heritage was relatively well treated – since Japan was one of the Axis Powers. In 1944 the Germans organized an exhibition of Japanese Art in Sukiennice. One of its most astonished visitors was the then 19-year-old Andrzej Wajda.

Andrzej Wajda and the Establishment of the Manggha Centre in Krakow

Wajda recalled this astonishment when he received the prestigious Kyoto Prize for his career achievements some forty years later, and announced that he would donate the prize to the building of a museum for the Japanese art collection belonging to the Krakow National Museum.

Wajda's idea was well received both in Poland and Japan. The authorities of Krakow donated the vacant plot on the bank of the Vistula across from the Wawel Castle, and Arata Isozaki, one of the most known Japanese architects, donated his design for the museum. The Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology was opened on November 30^th, 1994.

The Cultural Life in the Manggha Center

From then on Manggha has not only been an exhibition space for “Manggha” Jasienski's collection, but also a powerful cultural institution in itself, presenting traditional and contemporary Japanese exhibits as well as modern international and Polish art. The Manggha Centre also hosts many lectures, including a very popular (also among the Krakow expats and foreign tourists, as the lectures are usually delivered in English) series called “What is Architecture”, given by regarded architects from around the world. These included Sir Peter Cook, Christian Kerez, Arata Isozaki and Odile Decq among others.

The Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology also houses a nice cafe, serving different Japanese teas and small oriental snacks. Plus, one can always take the tea to the terrace of the Manggha Centre and observe a nice view of Krakow, dominated by the Wawel Castle.

Getting to the Manggha Center of Japanese Art and Technology

The Mangga Centre of Japanese Art and Technology 26 Konopnickiej Street, right across the Wisła River from Wawel Castle. You can get there by tram (nos. 1, 2, 6 – get off at Jubilat/Most Dębicki and lines 18, 19, 22 – get off at Rondo Grunwaldzkie) or by bus (nos. 109, 114, 124, 164, 173, 179, 194, 439, 444 – get off at Jubilat/Most Dębicki and nos. 100, 103, 112, 114, 124, 128, 162, 164, 173, 179, 184, 194, 439, 444 – get off at Rondo Grunwaldzkie).

The Manggha Centre is open daily, except Mondays, from 10a.m. to 8p.m. The tickets cost 10-15 zloty.