Przypadkowa kolekcja starożytności. Muzeum Narodowew Krakowie i jego darczyńcy

The information on collectors responsible for the museum collections is dominated by those who have donated the largest number of or the most spectacular works of art. The collection of ancient art in the National Museum in Krakow (MNK) is mostly known for the museum pieces from the Princes Czartoryski Museum, which had been established by Prince Władysław Czartoryski in 1876, three years before the National Museum in Krakow was opened. It overshadows the collections of the National Museum in Krakow, which were created accidentally thanks to numerous people who, for personal reasons, often wished to donate or sell sometimes just one or several ancient items to this institution. The article aims at commemorating several people and discussing modest gifts, ones that were the basis for creating the collection of the MNK ancient art after having been collected for several dozen years. These museum pieces, although they are not the most representative ones of a given culture, are a significant testament to the development of craft that completes Władysław Czartoryski’s collection and the permanent exhibition in the MNK’s Arsenal.