The National Museum of the Przemyśl Region has more than a hundred years of history. It was founded in 1909 on the initiative of a group of Polish intelligentsia, in particular the brothers Kazimierz and Tadeusz Osiński. Their collections gave rise to the museum's collections, which operated as part of the Society of Friends of Science. The local community's national, cultural and religious diversity influenced the collection's character. Today, the museum is a multi-departmental institution with rich and varied collections covering archaeology, history, art, crafts, militaria, ethnography and nature.
The collection comprises more than 100,000 museum collections from various areas of culture and art, including many unique to the country and Europe.
Particularly noteworthy are one of the largest icon collections in the country, a collection of medals and old coins, a collection of pipes and cigar holders related to the pipe-making centre in Przemyśl, an ethnographic and art collection referring to the cultural heritage of the former Eastern Borderlands, including a collection related to the Hutsul region, and pieces of equipment from Lwów's laboratory of Professor Rudolf Weigl, the inventor of a vaccine against epidemic typhus. The library collection of over 30,000 volumes, containing many priceless manuscripts and old prints, is also valuable.
The collection also included artefacts relating to Jewish culture. The Judaica collection has more than 500 catalogue items, comprising objects used in the synagogue, pieces of clothing and home furnishings, objects related to Jewish holidays, paintings and drawings on Jewish themes, archives and photographs.
