The Historical Museum in Sanok

The Historical Museum is located in the Sanok castle, whose history dates back to the Middle Ages. In the 14^th century on the present castle hill there was probably a wooden castle surrounded by a fortified wall. The lord of the castle was, among others Bona Sforza, wife of King Zygmunt I the Old. At her command, Marshal Mikołaj Wolski rebuilt the Gothic Sanok castle into a Renaissance style. The fall of the castle happened at the end of the 19^th century. During the occupation time it housed the Lemko Museum, and Germans built a bunker under the castle, which was part of the fortifications of so-called "Galicja Border Position". In 1972, the castle complex was inscribed in the registry of monuments.

At present, in the castle there is the Historical Museum, which has collections of ancient and modern art. One of the permanent exhibitions is devoted to Eastern Orthodox Church art. Over 1200 exhibits have been collected here. Among them there are icons (the oldest come from the 16^th century) and liturgical objects such as utensils, wooden and polychrome manual crosses, encyclopedias, pendants, banners, robes, old prints, originating from existing or non-existent Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches from south-eastern Poland and today's Ukraine. In turn, in the newly constructed southern wing is the largest in the world - numbering about 600 works - exhibition presenting rich and varied work of one of the most interesting, most intriguing contemporary artists – Zdzisław Beksinski. The collection includes photographs, sketches, copied artist's studio and paintings.