East Slovakia Museum, Košice

The East Slovakia Museum, Košice is one of the oldest in Slovakia. It was set up in 1872 as an Association Museum under the name the Upper-Hungarian Museum (Felsőmagyarországi múzeum). During its more than 130 years of existence it has collected practically half a million objects from the domain of art history, crafts, history, numismatics, ethnography, natural history, photography.

Exhibitions include ‘Nature of Carpathian Mountains’ – an overview of the geology, palaeontology, mineralogy, botany and zoology of the mountain region; Centuries in Art’ – documenting the fine arts of East Slovakia down the centuries; ‘The People - Author of Values’ - a review of the history of Eastern Slovakia from the primeval age up to the mid 19th century; ‘The Košice Gold Treasure’ - a hoard of 2,920 gold coins from the 15th-17th centuries struck in 81 mints of Europe and a Renaissance gold chain 214 centimetres in length; ‘Money in Slovakia’ - selected items from the second largest numismatic collection in Slovakia; ‘The Goldsmiths’ - an abundant collection of gold and silver artefacts, numbering some one thousand exhibits; the ‘Francis Rakocsi Il Memorial Exhibition’ - an exhibition on view in the Executioner's Bastion in Hrnciarska Street which documents the anti-Habsburg rebellions led by Francis Rakoczi II and examines his life and achievements; ‘Artistic Metal Foundry in Eastern Slovakia’ - an exhibition on five floors which introduces a wide range of metal-founders’ products, ranging from bells and medieval cannons, through sacral, utility and ornamental objects; and ‘Košice in the Middle Ages’ - a historical exhibition on view in the Gothic building of the so-called Miklos’ Prison in Hrnciarska Street which showcases the history, crafts, trade, penal law and judiciary of Košice in the middle ages.