Fabryka Emalia Oskara Schindlera

What to expect

Schindler’s Factory is the everyday name of a Museum of Krakow branch housed in the former administrative building of Oskar Schindler’s enamelware factory in Zabłocie. Correct one common misunderstanding straight away: this is not a museum about Schindler, nor about the film Schindler’s List. The permanent exhibition, “Krakow under Occupation 1939-1945”, tells the story of the whole city and its inhabitants, Polish and Jewish, under German occupation; Schindler and his workers form one thread of it, and the factory owner’s preserved office is one stop on the route.

The exhibition is scenographic and dense: reconstructed streets, apartments and workshops, documents, witness accounts. It is powerful and demands concentration; it will be hard going with small children, and also at peak times, when guided groups fill the narrow passages.

Visiting in practice

This is one of the most visited museums in Poland, so booking is effectively mandatory. Tickets (60/45 PLN) are personal and named, sold online up to 90 days ahead through the Museum of Krakow ticketing site; online sales for a given slot close 6 hours before entry, and at the door you must show an ID document matching the name on the ticket. Mondays are free, but with shorter hours (10:00-15:00) and no online booking for individual visitors - you queue for passes on site. The museum is closed on the first Tuesday of each month. Last admission is an hour and a half before closing, which is also roughly the time the exhibition itself deserves.

Getting there

The factory stands at Lipowa 4 in Zabłocie, on the right bank of the Vistula. By tram, ride to the Plac Bohaterów Getta stop and walk a few minutes along Kącik street under the railway viaduct; the Kraków Zabłocie railway stop is also close. From Kazimierz it is about a twenty-minute walk across the Bernatka footbridge.

Nearby

Right next door, on the grounds of the former factory, is MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art. On Plac Bohaterów Getta you will find the Eagle Pharmacy, and on the riverbank Cricoteka, the centre documenting the art of Tadeusz Kantor.