Natural Museum in a fort

Krakow?s Natural Museum of the Polish Academy of Sciences currently occupies 3,000 square meters in the city center on ul. Sebastiana. This area is far too small to exhibit all of the museum?s treasures, and so many of the museum?s plant, insect and fossil exhibits have been placed in storage.

City Councilor Grazyna Fijalkowska proposed using this empty fort to house a new branch of the Natural Museum. Professor Wieslaw Krzeminski, director of Krakow?s History Museum, is enthusiastic about the idea. He considers the fort in Prokocim to be the perfect place to exhibit the mammoth skeletons, exotic birds and insects currently in storage.

The fort was built from 1882-1886 as a war outpost and later transformed into a military storage facility. Today, the fort is empty. All its furnishings have been stolen and no doors or windows remain.
Previous proposals for the fort have included building a hotel, restaurant or sports center.

Although a final decision has not been reached, specialists agree that transforming the site into a branch of the Natural Museum is a fitting idea. The fort?s 2,500 square meters, together with a tract parcel of 4.5 hectares, would serve as a suitable home for the numerous exhibits presently in storage.
The city budget has allocated 100,000 zloty to renovate the fort. Additional funding may be possible through EU grant programs.