Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace
Kraków Monuments
A historic 16th-century palace at Kanonicza Street 17, since 2007 a branch of the National Museum in Kraków. In 1505 Bishop Erazm Ciołek of Płock joined two houses here into the so-called curia ampla, a great court regarded in the 16th century as the most splendid on Kanonicza Street. After centuries of neglect the palace was handed over to the museum in 1996, and in 1999-2006 it underwent a comprehensive restoration. The museum opened on 18 October 2007; its rooms hold galleries of old art and of Orthodox church art.
History
The palace at Kanonicza Street 17 has its origins in a project of Erazm Ciołek, Bishop of Płock. On his initiative, in 1505 two houses were joined into a single residence known as curia ampla, the great court. In the 16th century it was the most splendid building on the street. It was further rebuilt by Bishop Piotr Tomicki and Cardinal Jerzy Radziwiłł: side wings were added and the building rose to three storeys. In the second half of the 16th century a defensive wall and an artillery tower were also added.
The palace kept this form until the 19th century. Then it was taken over by the Austrian authorities, who installed the Old Town District Conscription Commission and the Assay Office there, and adapting it to these new purposes damaged the building. It was not repaired after either of the world wars, and by the end of the 20th century its condition was considered very poor.
The National Museum in Kraków took over the ruined palace in 1996, and a full restoration was carried out in 1999-2006. The conservation project included reopening the walled-up two-aisled entrance hall, restoring late Gothic and Renaissance surrounds to the windows, and conserving Renaissance wall paintings with Bishop Tomicki's Łodzia coat of arms. In the entrance hall a late Gothic colonnade was discovered that divided the interior into two aisles. The cartouche of the Renaissance gateway is decorated with a crowned eagle intertwined with the letter S - the initial of King Zygmunt Stary (Sigismund the Old).
The museum opened on 18 October 2007. The upper floor houses the Gallery of Old Polish Art, 12th-18th Century, showing painting, sculpture and decorative arts from the late Middle Ages to the late Baroque. The oldest pieces here are late Romanesque capitals from the Cistercian abbey in Jędrzejów, and the collection also includes works by Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz) and his circle. The ground floor is occupied by the Gallery of Orthodox Church Art of the Old Polish Republic, where you can see icons from several centuries and a complete 18th-century iconostasis from Lipowiec in the Bracław region.
Did you know?
Among the exhibits is the sculpture Christ on a Donkey from Szydłowiec. It was once used in Palm Sunday rites.