The Collection of Ancient Art possesses a small group of artefacts from various civilizations of the Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia). It reflects, in  a rather limited scope, the arts and craftsmanship of the rich, highly developed centres of civilisation which thrived in that area from the 9th millennium BC (the Neolithic age) to the second half of the 1st millennium AD.

The collection, almost all of which is permanently exhibited in the Gallery of Ancient Art, illustrates some important artistic and cultural phenomena of the Ancient Near East - high quality craftsmanship, cuneiform texts of various contents, arms and objects of everyday use such as tools and ceramics.

Due to the fragmentary character of the collection, it is impossible to show individual cultures and their full chronological development. The artefacts of varying chronology and provenance are presented in nine showcases. They are assembled in groups according to their common, usually functional, criteria.
Among the most interesting objects are the gold Iranian bull’s head protome, fragments of marble reliefs from the palaces of the Assyrian kings, Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets and inscriptions, cylinder and stamp seals and the so-called Luristan bronzes (daggers, axes, horse bits and an idol figurine from western Iran).

The attention of visitors should also be attracted by objects of daily use found in north-eastern Syria during the Polish rescue excavations (1988-1995). This assemblage is characteristic for the culture of the Jazira region of north Mesopotamia in the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C. and includes various types of clay vessels, small tools, votive objects and personal ornaments. The larger part of these objects is exhibited, the remaining is stored in the magazines.