The Museum of Literature, named after Adam Mickiewicz, was founded in 1952. It's housed in six Old Town houses, restored to their originals after the World War II. At first, the museum was intended to be the museum of famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewitcz. However, in 1960 the collection of the museum was enlarged by the exhibits related to other writers and poets, notably Julian Tuwim, Maria Dabrowska and Leopold Staff. Later a part of the museum was dedicated to the modern literature.

Nowadays the exposition covers the history of Polish literature from the times of romanticism until today. A large section of the museum is dedicated to Adam Mickiewicz. It includes his manuscripts, pages of his most famous work "Pan Tadeucz", poems, letters and old prints. Among the collection there are personal belongings of Mickiewicz and other Polish poets and writers, such as objects of fine art, furniture, decorative arts and crafts, books and mementoes, paintings, sculpture, medals and drawings. The visitors of the museum will see the portraits of Polish writers from the 18th up to the 20th century. The photographic archive of the museum maintains a collection of the 19th century daguerreotypes and photographs related to the lives and works of writers and poets. In the museum there is even the audio department that preserves recorded voices of some Polish writers and other audio and visual materials.

Adam Mickiewitz was born near Novogrodek, now belonging to Belorussia, in impoverished noble family. He studied at Novogrodek school until 1815, and then entered Vilna University, where he studied German and English romantic poetry. True patriot, he participated in Polish revolutionary organizations and wrote patriotic poems. He was sentenced to exile his country and went to Russia, where he stayed for five years. Later he was living in Rome and Paris, where Mickiewicz became an enthusiast of mysticism and invented the new theory of Polish nation. According to his theory, the Poles among other nations played the same role as Jesus Christ among ordinary people. Just like Jesus, Poland was "crucified", but soon it would resurrect and start the new historic era. The first part of "Pan Tadeucz", the most famous work by Mickiewitz, is based on this theory. In 1840 he became the professor of Slavonic literature and read lectures in the College de France. But in the third year of his teaching he began to abandon literature for certain philosophical and religious ideas. He joined the theory of Towianski, whose ideas were close to Mickiewitz Messianism theory. Mickiewicz started to propagate the theory in his lectures and lost his chair of literature. When the Crimean war started, Mickiewitz hoped to form Polish legion and fight with France and England against Russia, but died of cholera. His body was first transported to Paris. In 1890 Mickiewicz's remains returned to Poland and were buried with the Polish kings in the national shrine in Crakow.