Up till now, a small number of studies were focused on the influence of divalent metal ions on the structure and properties of chitosan hydrogels. The aim of this work was to manipulate the physical and biological properties of chitosan’s hydrogels by the addition of divalent metal ions at non-toxic concentrations. Chitosan is a non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable polymer which can be used as a scaffold in tissue engineering. Depending on the degree of deacetylation and molecular weight of polymer, hydrogels with specific structures can be produced by the addition of copper and zinc ions (Cu2+ and Zn2+). As a potential method, the chelation process can be used to prepare hydrogels of chelate chitosan – metal ion with defined structure. In the experimental part of this work, two types of chitosan were used: medium (C1) and high (C2) molecular weight. Copper and zinc acetate were used as metal precursors, while concentrated solution of sodium hydroxide and saturated ammonia atmosphere were used as the neutralisation agents. The UV-Vis spectrophotometric analysis of the chitosan–M2+ solutions indicated the formation of corresponding chelates. The prepared hydrogels were transformed into scaffolds and xerogels by the lyophilisation method and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis (FTIR) and qualitative X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The morphology and microstructure of the samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The analyses indicated interactions of Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions with amino and hydroxyl groups of the polymer, as well as the formation of inorganic crystalline phases with the NaOH as gelling agent. The cytotoxicity test confirmed that chelates with the concentration of copper(II) ion higher than 3 mmol dm^-3 were cytotoxic for Hek293 cells, whereas chelates with zinc(II) ions of whole investigated concentration range did not show cytotoxic properties.