Krzysztofory Palace
Kraków Monuments
A historic townhouse at Szczepańska Street 2, on the corner of Main Market Square 35, the seat of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. The name comes from the figure of St Christopher, which stood on the facade of the corner house from around 1380. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries one of the oldest pharmacies in Kraków operated here. In 1644 the house and its neighbours were bought by the Crown Grand Marshal Adam Kazanowski, who turned them into a residence; the Baroque rebuilding designed by Wawrzyniec Senes gave the palace its L-shaped plan, along with a cloister and an arcaded gallery that survive to this day.
History
The palace stands on the corner of the Main Market Square and Szczepańska Street, and its name comes from a stone statue of St Christopher which from around 1380 decorated the façade of the corner house. A building probably stood here as early as the second half of the 13th century. The oldest masonry structure on the plot was a tower on a square plan with 10-metre sides, which before the mid-14th century was incorporated into a large house. From 1423, when the house was described as "great", until the mid-16th century it belonged to the patrician Morsztyn family. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries one of Kraków's oldest pharmacies operated here.
In 1644 the house and the neighbouring buildings were bought by Adam Kazanowski, Court Marshal of the Crown under Władysław IV. He wanted to turn them into a residence, and even to make it a royal one. A Baroque rebuilding to a design by Wawrzyniec Senes gave the palace its L-shaped plan, a cloister and an arcaded gallery, which survive to this day. During the Swedish Deluge the building was badly damaged. In 1682-1684 it was thoroughly rebuilt by its next owner, Jan Wawrzyniec Wodzicki, and at the end of the 17th century the Italian architect Jakub Sollari worked here, while the stucco was made by the sculptor Baltazar Fontana. John Casimir after his abdication and Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki also lived here, and in 1809, when the troops of Prince Józef Poniatowski liberated Kraków, the building became the quarters of the general staff.
In 1912 the palace was bought by a building company that wanted to demolish it and put up a block of rental flats. The people of Kraków rose to defend the building, led by the Society for the Care of Polish Monuments of Art and Culture. The protest worked. In 1916 Krzysztofory was restored to a design by Wacław Krzyżanowski. In 1929 the "Europejska" café opened here.
The cellars house the Krzysztofory Gallery. In the early 1930s the Kraków Group, an association of artists, was founded here, and in 1961 Tadeusz Kantor moved his Cricot 2 theatre to the cellars. In 1965 the building was handed over to the Museum of Kraków, and it was renovated in 2001-2021.
Did you know?
A room with a mirror vault still has Baltazar Fontana's stucco work, depicting among other scenes the fall of Phaethon. Every year Krzysztofory hosts the exhibition of entries from the Kraków nativity scene (szopka) competition.