The Kitchen From the Inside: a new exhibition at the Museum of Engineering and Technology!

Banana Yoshimoto wrote: The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. At the Museum of Engineering and Technology in Kraków, we share this passion. This is why we would like to invite you to an exhibition devoted to the heart of every home.

The Kitchen From the Inside is a fascinating journey through the 20th century, showing how the development of technology revolutionized the way in which we get, prepare, process, and store food. The introduction of electricity and gas had a major impact on everyday life and the culinary practices of the Poles. We want to show the scale of the changes that took place in Polish homes: from the work done by household members to the precision of electrical appliances.

The exhibition is divided into six sections that guide the visitors through the entire process of the changes in the kitchen of the 20th century:

• Getting Food: we look at how food supply changed over time, from traditional marketplaces to modern supermarkets. We also investigate the problem of food adulteration, which, as it turns out, was a problem even before our times.
• Kitchen Space: we follow the evolution of the room itself, from closed kitchens and large coal stoves, through the ergonomic Frankfurt kitchen, to windowless kitchens.
• Storage: we discover the path from pantries and ice boxes, through gas-powered appliances, to modern electrical fridges and industrial methods of preservation, such as freeze drying and pasteurization.
• Food Preparation: machines rule here! We examine appliances such as the legendary Bartek food processor or the valuable Gródek electric cooker. As well as mixers, juicers, and electric cake pans. We show how the application of the laws of physics and mechanics facilitated everyday activities such as cutting, grinding, and frying.
• Hygiene and Waste: we learn the history of keeping things clean, from sand and ash, through the Ludwik dish washing liquid, to the first Polish dishwashers.
• And For Desserts…: the exhibition concludes with an area presenting coffee grinders, the Kawex coffee and tea machine, soda siphons, and appliances for preparing homemade ice cream.

The Kitchen From the Inside exhibition is a real treat for the lovers of vintage design and technology made in socialist Poland. The exhibition presents a wide range of appliances that, for decades, made life easier in Polish homes, becoming icons of the previous century.

There are 400 items on display, most of them originating from the collections of the Museum, accompanied by archival photos, video materials, and animations.

 

Visit our Museum and discover the secrets of technology that has changed our everyday life forever!

 

The temporary exhibition will be open until 27 th March 2026.

The Machines of Leonardo da Vinci

 

Do you know the brilliant painter Leonardo da Vinci? You can now discover him as a brilliant engineer!

Do you know what Leonardo, author of the Lady with an Ermine, valued most in himself? Not the talent of a painter or the genius of an artist, but his engineering skills. He took pride in inventing machines that were centuries ahead of their time.

From 16 December, the exhibition at the Czyżyny Hangar will feature around 40 contemporary wooden models based on Leonardo’s original designs. Fifteen of them are interactive objects, so visitors will be able to test them for themselves.

Among the inventions from 500 years ago, visitors will be able to admire flying machines, combat vehicles such as the scythe chariot or the prototype of the modern tank, the pedometer, the bicycle, the hygrometer, as well as the parachute or the diving suit.

Leonardo da Vinci left behind more than 7,000 pages of notes. Most of them are technical sketches testifying to the great importance of mechanics in his work. He spent a lot of time developing complex designs for levers, gears, gear mechanisms and other engineering solutions. As a versatile and far-sighted engineer, Leonardo created many concepts and inventions that were inspiring for the modern technology.

The Kraków exhibition is divided into six thematic areas:
optics, mechanics, road, water, war and air.

In the optics section, you can enter the mirror room or see the projector.
The mechanics include a lift, an extendible ladder and other structures.
In the road section, you will discover traffic-related ideas – for example, a pedometer or an arch bridge. Then we have a smooth transition to the water theme, where you can see, among other things, the design of a diving dress. In the war section, constructions such as the tank and ogival projectiles appear.
At the end, you have to look up and see above you the air-related projects, including the famous helicopter concept.

Reproductions of da Vinci’s drawings and paintings – from the Mona Lisa to The Last Supper – will enrich your knowledge of this Renaissance Man. There are also lots of trivia such as the seven principles of ‘Being like Leonardo’, which are still inspiring today!

The exhibition is an opportunity to learn more about the work of the eminent humanist, who was not only a painter, but a visionary and experimenter in technical amenities. It is also an opportunity to remind us that the Latin word ars historically meant ‘skill, technical proficiency, well-executed craftsmanship’.

The exhibition ‘Leonardo da Vinci’s Machines’ was prepared by the Museum of Engineering and Technology in cooperation with Zbigniew Perzyna’s company ‘organisation of exhibitions’. The exhibition has so far visited dozens of cities in many European countries, among others: Greece, Spain, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia.

 

LEONARDO DA VINCI’S MACHINES

Czyżyny Hangar – Second branch of the Museum of Engineering and Technology

os. 2 Pułku Lotniczego 26a.

 

16 th December 2025 – 30 th June 2026

“The City. Technosensitivity” Exhibition

City. Technosensitivity is more than a regular exhibition. It is an invitation to embark on a unique journey in time: into the past and into the future.

During that journey, we will take our visitors to the City, with a capital C. The goal is simple: to discover what makes the city the hustling and bustling center of social and cultural life and civilizational progress.

Change to the exhibition tour route

We’ve started installing air conditioning in halls E and H, with support from the “Cultural Infrastructure” program. This project is all about making your visit more comfortable. While the work is underway, the exhibition route will be slightly shorter, and ticket prices have been temporarily reduced.

A technological portrait of the city painted carefully, with respect and affection

We look at the City from the perspective of 12 areas of engineering and technology. From hydrotechnology, energy engineering, heat engineering, industry and trade, and gas engineering, through architecture, urban planning and mobility, to security, communication, public health, and ecology.

We ask the key questions about the City then and now.

• Why did it come to be?
• How does it work?
• What makes it function efficiently?
• Has it always been functioning the same?
• How have the expectations of residents changed over the ages?
• What awaits cities in the future?

In answering these questions, we observe the City from the river and from the air. We look underground. We look into the sky. We also peek into factories and homes. All of this in order to make the visitors, no matter their age, experience the magic behind the seemingly ordinary everyday life in a modern city and better understand the cultural, technological, and civilizational changes that are taking place.

More than 600 unique technological artifacts as well as interactive experiences

The 600+ amazing technological artifacts include unique items, such as:

• an Edison phonograph,
• the first Polish telephones,
• a Feldfernschreiber cipher device,
• Marconi 4LS/1 and Olympic-Z radio sets,
• a luxury Capello Roma sound system,
• a Polish Fiat 508,
• an Odra 1305 computer.

We also present numerous replicas, models, mock-ups, audiovisual materials, and photos.

The LAB Area is a special place where you can conduct experiments on your own in order to understand the basics of the International System of Units.

When visiting the permanent exhibition, please consider popping over to Hall F, where historic tram cars are on display – click here for details.

City. Technosensitivity in a nutshell

• An exhibition on the history of the city and the way it has functioned over the ages.
• More than 600 engineering artifacts + replicas, mock-ups, AV materials, and photos.
• A LAB Area to conduct experiments on your own.
• Twelve areas of technology and engineering.
• The exhibition won the Sybilla 2023 Museum Event of the Year award in the New and Modernized Permanent Exhibitions category.
• The exhibition was prepared as part of the last stage of an EU project.

Planned exhibition

The exhibition will present the achievements of domestic motorisation against the backdrop of the difficult economic and social situation which our country faced throughout the 20th century.

The story will begin in the 1920s, – just after independence – in Poland almost devoid of cars and motorbikes. Visitors will learn about the various attempts to motorise Poles in the period after the Second World War. The authors of the exhibition will answer questions, such as why cars became popular in Poland only in the 1970s and with what and how they tried to replace them. The exhibition will end with events that are already happening today; it addresses issues related to globalisation, as well as the privatisation of the domestic automotive industry. The objects on display, including cars, motorbikes, and engines from the Museum’s collection, will be complemented by carefully selected photographs and films.

A technical route will be presented alongside the exhibition’s history route. The objects, such as moving and static models of vehicle components or infographics, will help to explain what sets vehicles in motion. A selection of solutions applied in vehicle design will also be presented.

The exhibition will not only allow us to trace the development of motorisation over more than a century but also to reflect on the future of individual transport, both in Poland and worldwide.

The objects on display at the Czyżyny Hangar include the first post-war Polish motorbike, Sokół 125, Polish cars licensed by Fiat, prototypes of vehicles that did not go into mass production, various models of Syrena (Syrena 101, 102, 103, 104) and Warszawa, as well as Polish trucks.

Some of the vehicles can already be viewed in photographs and 3D animations made available at the Museum’s website. On-line collections

Highly recommended:

Motorbike WSK M21W2 „Perkoz”

Motorbike WSK M06 B3 „pic”

Motorbike Podkowa 98

Speedway mtorcycle FIS

Prototype of a Polonez ambulance / van

Prototype of a Honker 4×4 pickup

Polish Fiat 126p

Fiat 127p

Polish Fiat 125p