Favorites
My Favorite Galleries
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Azulejo 12th May 2020Azulejo – Portuguese, Spanish painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework.
by elluse
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My Favorite Articles
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motanka dolls 15th Sep 2020Craftswoman from Cherkasy region creates original motanka dolls
by elluse
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Handmade Traditions 8th Sep 2020With Their Unique Handmade Traditions, These 15 Little-Known...
by elluse
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clog making 7th Sep 2020British clog maker showcases heritage craft from Sheffield...
by elluse
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My favorite books
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Origin: Global
A Portfolio of Designs for Raffia Basketry
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Origin: United Kingdom
Bookbinding For Beginners
Click link to read: Language: English
By: Florence Ordway Bean
Book release: 1914
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Origin: United Kingdom
The Art of Bookbinding
Click link to read: Language: English
By: Joseph William Zaehnsdorf
Book release: 1890
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Origin: United Kingdom
Bookbinding, and the Care of Books
Click link to read:Bookbinding, and the Care of Books
Language: English
By: Douglas Cockerell
Book release: 1910
A handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians
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Origin: United Kingdom
PRACTICAL BOOKBINDING
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Origin: United Kingdom
Library Bookbinding
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Origin: United Kingdom
ROYAL ENGLISH BOOKBINDINGS
Click link to read: Language: English
By: CYRIL DAVENPORT, F.S.A.
Book release: 1896
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Origin: United Kingdom
ENGLISH EMBROIDERED BINDINGS
Click link to read: Language: English
By: Cyril Davenport
Book release: 1899
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Origin: Global
Pop-Up Cards Book Volume 2
Click link to read: Language: English
By: AmazingPopup.com
Origamic Architecture
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Origin: United States
McCall Needlework Knitting Crocheting
Click link to read:McCall Needlework Knitting Crocheting
Language: Ukrainian
By: McCall (publ.)
Book release: 1936
64 pages of needlework. Knitting and crochet patterns mostly included, some offered for sale. Many other techniques explained.
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Origin: France
Les Ouvrages Liturgiques
Click link to read: Language: French
Religious/devotional embroidery patterns, mostly for cutwork and surface embroidery, plus directions for use. Sewing patterns for Aube and church linens (in French). Some borders can be adapted for secular use. Some images have been split, otherwise too large to print. Transferred to Rijksmuseum 2017-05-03.
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Origin: United States
Aunt Martha’s Workbasket Volume 1 No. 6
Click link to read: Language: English
By: Tillerson, John and Clara
Book release: 1936
16 pages: crocheted eggs cosies, embroidered tea towels, crocheted bedjacket, cutwork, crocheted mittens for glasses, knitted boy’s sweater, crocheted tie, quilt pattern Star of Bethlehem, Easter baskets, embroidered State flowers in colors, Parade of the Nations: Spain.
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Origin: Italy
Grosso Richelieu
Click link to read: Language: Italian
By: Ramazotti, Amelia Brizzi
Book release: 1914
Rare Italilan-language booklet on Richelieu embroidery, illustrated by photographs. Richelieu is a form of heavily outlined cutwork embroidery accented with picot-bearing brides and surface stitched accents, done in white.
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Origin: United States
Cutwork Crochet
Click link to read: Language: English
Crochet leaflet from the fifties, with directions for placemats, doilies, chair mats, and an apron, some worked in two or more colors. Style of these pieces is broadly imitative of cutwork embroidery, with solid areas framing lacy, openwork floral or geometric motifs. Very much in the mid-century style. Prose instructions, American notation.
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Origin: United States
Priscilla Hedebo and Cutwork Book
Click link to read:Priscilla Hedebo and Cutwork Book
Language: English
By: Wilson, Lilian Barton
Book release: 1916
A collection of original designs, with stitches and lessons for working.
Instruction in hedebo and Roman, Spanish, Venetian, Italian, Richelieu, and Moorish cutwork. Starting with the basic embroidery points employed in this work, and building on that with simple projects, quickly progressing to rather involved looking work. A rare Priscilla publication. There exists another Priscilla book on Italian cutwork.
My Favorite Patterns
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Origin: Global
Tutorial: Make a coiled raffia basket
Click link to view:Tutorial: Make a coiled raffia basket
If you’re looking for a relaxing and portable craft, making coiled raffia baskets and bowls might be the craft for you. The minimal materials make it easy to transport, and the whole process of winding and weaving is very meditative.
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Origin: Netherlands
Star / Condolence child
Click link to view: -
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Origin: Global
Cat book folding pattern – directed by Sonia
Click link to view:In french language, 189 sheets – Book height: 21 cm
My Favorite Definitions
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Origin: Indonesia
Batik
The art of decorating fabric using wax and a dye. The applied wax resists dyes which allows to colour fabric selectively.
This process of waxing and dyeing can be repeated to create more elaborate and colourful designs. After the final dyeing the wax is removed and the cloth is ready for wearing or showing.This technique originated from Java, Indonesia.
The word batik originates from the Javanese tik and means to dot.Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a tjanting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap.
The art of decorating cloth in this way, using wax and dye, has been practised for centuries. In Java, Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik cloth in the world is still made there.
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Origin: Japan
Amigurumi
Is a popular type of crochet or knitting small, stuffed yarn creatures.
The word is a portmanteau of two Japanese terms: ami, which means “crocheted or knitted” and nuigurumi, meaning “stuffed doll”.
It often takes the form of an animal or fantastical creature with an aesthetic that’s best described as kawaii or cute. Amigurumi vary in size and there are no restrictions about size or look
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Read Article
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Origin: India
Mehndi
Is a the ancient art of decorating the skin using henna paste made from the henna dry leaves, originating in ancient India.
Mehndi is a ceremonial art, it is typically applied during weddings – for Muslim and Hindu brides.
Henna is painted on the bride to symbolise joy, beauty, spiritual awakening and offering.
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Origin: India
Bidriware
The handicraft originates from Bidar district of Karnataka (India), which is still the chief centre for the manufacture of the unique metalware.
The craft was developed in the 14th century C.E. during the rule of the Bahamani Sultans and is very famous for its amazing metalwork.
Bidriware is made from a blackened alloy of zinc and copper with thin sheets of pure silver.
It undergoes an eight-stage process and due to its striking inlay artwork, bidriware is an important export handicraft of India and is prized as a symbol of wealth.
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Origin: Ukraine
Vyshyvanka
Vyshyvanka (Ukrainian: “Вишива́нка” [ʋɪʃɪˈʋanka] or “Виши́ванка” [ʋɪˈʃɪʋanka]) is the Ukrainian traditional clothing which contains elements of Ukrainian ethnic embroidery. Usually, it was made of homemade linen which was produced by loom. Local features are usually represented in the shirt’s ornamental pattern.
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Redwork 
Macramé My Favorite Software
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Pixel Stitch – Convert photos into cross stitch patterns for free
Click link to view:Pixel Stitch - Convert photos into cross stitch patterns for free
Price: Free
Software description:Did you ever had a picture or photo in your hand and thought: it would be nice if I could transfer this into a cross stitch embroidery pattern. With a few clicks in your image editing programm you can easily pixelate images but you quickly come to your limit. For example when it comes to map the colors in the image in order to find the corresponding embroidery threads. And after that telling the printer that you want him to print out a handy, well-recognizable pattern …
These problems belong to the past, because pixel stitch will assume these steps for you.
Just upload your favorite picture, determine the number of stitches as well as the number of embroidery colors and let pixel stitch do the work for you. In no time the pattern in PDF format will be provided to you so you can easily download and print it. In the PDF you will find all the infos to get started with your project like informations to the different color numbers and the legend of the embroidery pattern.
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Stitchboard
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:You must be a member (free!) and be logged in to access all menu options.
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MicroRevolt Knitpro
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:knitPro is a free web application that translates digital images into knit, crochet, needlepoint and cross-stitch patterns. Simply upload jpeg, gif or png images and knitPro will generate a graph sizable for any fiber project. knitPro digitally mimics the tradition of pre-industrial craft circles who freely shared patterns and passed them down from generation to generation.
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Valentina – open source pattern drafting software
Click link to view:Valentina - open source pattern drafting software
Price: Free
Software description:Valentina is an open source pattern drafting software tool, designed to be the foundation of a new stack of open source tools to remake the garment industry.
Small-batch and custom-sized clothing manufacturing is essential to create a sustainable future, preserve small- to medium-sized textile spinning and weaving manufacturers, enable independent and small designers and manufacturers to scale up to make a decent living, rebuild local garment districts, and reduce or eliminate slave labor.
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Wild Ginger Software – Fashion Design and Sewing Pattern Software
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:Drafting for Hats, Bags, Footwear, and Accessories
Embroidery Planning Tools
Complete Program Help and Sewing InstructionsAll of the patterns in Wild Things print to the dimensions you specify. It even has embroidery design planning tools to aid you in creating unique accessories for yourself and others. You can specify the dimensions for each item to draft accessories for your needs.
Wild Things! comes complete with a Help file to aid you in using the new tools as well as sewing instructions for each and every style that drafts drafts.
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Stitchboard – Free Pattern Wizard
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:Free Online Pattern Wizard For Beading, Crochet, Cross Stitch, Knitting.
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Bead program for patterns
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:“Home of the best little free bead program for patterns on the net!”
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JBead – bead rope crochet design tool
Click link to view:JBead - bead rope crochet design tool
Price: Free
Software description:The JBead software is a bead rope crochet design tool. It can be freely downloaded and used. It is open source sofware, licensed under the GPLv3 license.
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Bead Pattern Maker
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:Bead Pattern Maker is a free beading tool used to create bead patterns easily and intuitively. It’s a simple and powerful web tool to bring your imagination into life.
Youtube instructions on how to use aplication: youtube
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Seamless Pattern Maker
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:Create unlimited seamless patterns for free
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Tartan Designer/Maker
Click link to view:Price: Free
Software description:Generates seamless tartan patterns!
My Favorite Places
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United States , Manhattan, New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Arts – The Met Cloisters
(The Met Cloisters)
Click link to view:The Metropolitan Museum of Arts - The Met Cloisters
Admission fee: Paid
The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.
Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.
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United States , New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Arts – The Met Fifth Avenue
(The Met)
Click link to view:Admission fee: Paid
The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.
Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.
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Canada , Toronto, Ontario
The Royal Ontario Museum
(ROM)
Click link to view:Admission fee: Paid
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada.
With more than 6,000,000 items and 40 galleries, the museum’s diverse collections of world culture and natural history contribute to its international reputation. The museum contains a collection of dinosaurs, minerals and meteorites; Canadian, and European historical artifacts; as well as African, Near Eastern, and East Asian art. It houses the world’s largest collection of fossils from the Burgess Shale with more than 150,000 specimens. The museum also contains an extensive collection of design and fine art, including clothing, interior, and product design, especially Art Deco.
Source: Wikipedia -
Ukraine , Kyiv
Ivan Honchar Museum
Click link to view:Admission fee: Paid
Ivan Honchar Museum (National Centre of Folk Culture) is a museum in Kiev, Ukraine showcasing the culture of Ukraine and preserving Ukrainian folk art.
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Azerbaijan , Baku
The National Museum of History of Azerbaijan
Click link to view:The National Museum of History of Azerbaijan
Admission fee: Paid
The museum expositions and exhibitions reflecting all period of Azerbaijan history. In the library of the museum are more than 80. 000 books, as well as rare journals and newspapers printed in the early of 19th -20th centuries.The museum building is one of the beautiful architectural monuments of Baku. It was built on the basis of chief architect Josef Goslavsky’s project. The mansion was the residence of famous entrepreneur and philanthropist of Hadji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev and since 1920 the building began its activity as a museum.
The museum has more than 2000 exhibits and includes the following departments:[4]
Modern history department, Ethnography department, Department of ancient and medieval history of Azerbaijan, Scientific excursion department, Laboratory for restoration of museum exhibits
Fund of Numismatics: Including the collection of Yevgeni Pakhomov, Art design group, Library
Source: Wikipedia -
Uzbekistan , Bukhara
Sitora i Mohi Khosa – The Bukhara State Museum
Click link to view:Museum of Decorative Applied Arts in Bukhara (Sitora-i Mohi Khosa)
Admission fee: Paid
The museum has the collections of:
archaeology, umismatics, decorative – applied art, household items and ethnography, rare books and documents, paintings, graphics, sculpture, photographs and photo negatives, miscellaneous items.
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United States , Honolulu, Hawaii
The Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art
(DDFIA)
Click link to view:The Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art
Admission fee: Paid
The Shangri La Museum for Islamic Art, Design & Culture displays a wide-ranging collection of art, furnishings, and built-in architectural elements from Iran, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, Syria, Egypt, and India – among others. Gilt and painted ceilings from Morocco, vivid ceramics from Iran (including the only complete lusterware Ilkhanid mihrab in North America), painted wooden interiors from Syria, pierced metalwork and vibrant textiles from Spain to India (including a magnificent pair of shaped carpets, made for the Mughal emperor) are among the many highlights. Its multiple buildings on the campus also include The Playhouse (a reduced-scale version of the 17th century Chehel Sotoun in Esfahan, Iran, now used for public programs and artist residencies).
The outdoor landscaping has a number of gardens, including a formal Mughal garden inspired by the Shalimar Gardens, as well as terraced water features, a Hawaiian fishpond, tropical gardens and a waterfall, and fabulous vistas of the Pacific Ocean.
The museum also hosts two visual artists per year for onsite exhibitions, workshops, and/or lectures. Recently-featured artists have included Hayv Kahraman, Faig Ahmed, Bahia Shehab, and Reem Bassous.
Source: Wikipedia -
Uzbekistan , Tashkent
The State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan
Click link to view:The State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan
Admission fee: Paid
The initial collection of the museum consisted of a hundred works of art from prince Nikolay Romanov and other individuals private collections, nationalized in April 1918. Those were mostly paintings and drawings by Russian and Western European masters, sculptures, furniture and porcelain. Immediately after establishing the museum, its collection was enlarged with works from the collection of the Turkestan local history museum. In 1920–1924 the museum received 116 works of Russian art from the 18th to 20th centuries, among them portraits by Vladimir Borovikovsky, Tropinin, Karl Bryullov, Yaroshenko, Repin and many others. The museum also purchased about 250 paintings of pre-revolutionary artists who were active in Central Asia: Igor Kazakov, Nikolay Karazin, Sommer. From the second half of the 1930s, the museum’s collection was expanded mostly with works by Uzbekistan artists, including works of Usto Mumin, Pavel Benkov, Leo Bure.[6]
In addition to its permanent collection, the museum holds exhibitions of Uzbek and international artists.
Museum Collections are divided into four departments: National applied art of Uzbekistan, Fine arts of Uzbekistan, Russian and Western art, Far East art.
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United States , Honolulu, Hawaii
The Honolulu Museum of Art
Click link to view:Admission fee: Paid
The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single collections of Asian and Pan-Pacific art in the United States, and since its official opening on April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to more than 50,000 works of art.
It features a collection that includes Hokusai, van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Picasso and Warhol, as well as traditional Asian and Hawaiian art.
Source: Wikipedia
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United States , Cleveland
The Cleveland Museum of Art
(CMA)
Click link to view:The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA)
Admission fee: Free
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum, internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 61,000 works of art from around the world.
Source: Wikipedia -
Japan , Tokyo
The Tokyo National Museum
(TNM)
Click link to view:The Tokyo National Museum (TNM)
Admission fee: Paid
The Tokyo National Museum or TNM is an art museum in Tokyo, Japan. It is operated by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, is considered the oldest national museum in Japan, is the largest art museum in Japan, and is one of the largest art museums in the world.
The museum collects, preserves, and displays a comprehensive collection of artwork and cultural objects from Asia, with a focus on ancient and medieval Japanese art and Asian art along the Silk Road. There is also a large collection of Greco-Buddhist art.
Source: Wikipedia -
United States , Los Angeles
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(LACMA)
Click link to view:Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Admission fee: Paid
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of more than 142,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.
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United States , Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago
Click link to view:Admission fee: Paid
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago’s Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. Its collection includes iconic works such as Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Pablo Picasso’s The Old Guitarist, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, and Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research.
Source: Wikipedia -
Austria , Vienna
The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
(KHM)
Click link to view:The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
Admission fee: Paid
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Poland , Warsaw
The National Museum Warsow
(MNW)
Click link to view:Admission fee: Paid
The National Museum in Warsaw (Polish: Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), popularly abbreviated as MNW, is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art (Egyptian, Greek, Roman), counting about 11,000 pieces, an extensive gallery of Polish painting since the 16th century and a collection of foreign painting (Italian, French, Flemish, Dutch, German and Russian) including some paintings from Adolf Hitler’s private collection, ceded to the Museum by the American authorities in post-war Germany. The museum is also home to numismatic collections, a gallery of applied arts and a department of oriental art, with the largest collection of Chinese art in Poland, comprising some 5,000 objects.
The Museum boasts the Faras Gallery with Europe’s largest collection of Nubian Christian art and the Gallery of Medieval Art with artefacts from all regions historically associated with Poland, supplemented by selected works created in other regions of Europe.
Source: Wikipedia