Piotr Skrzynecki Monument (Main Square)
Kraków Artists: Theatre, Cabaret and Film
A bronze monument at Main Market Square 29, in front of the Pod Blachą House. Piotr Skrzynecki, creator and artistic director, director, scriptwriter and compère of the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret, sits at a table in his favourite corner of the garden of the Vis-à-Vis drink bar, a place that served as the informal office of Piwnica where its artists used to meet. The authors are Krystyna Borkowska-Niemojewska and Łukasz Niemojewski, the monument was funded by Zbigniew Preisner and Władysław Bartoszewski, and it was unveiled on 29 June 2000.
History
At the entrance to the Vis-à-vis bar in the Pod Blachą tenement house, Main Market Square 29, a bronze Piotr Skrzynecki sits at a table in the outdoor seating area. The monument was unveiled on 29 June 2000. It was made by Krystyna Borkowska-Niemojewska and Łukasz Niemojewski and funded by Zbigniew Preisner and Władysław Bartoszewski. The location was not chosen by chance: the bar, opened in 1978 and also known by the colloquial name Zwis, was for years the unofficial office of Piwnica pod Baranami, where the artists connected with it used to meet.
Skrzynecki was born in 1930 in Warsaw and came to Kraków in 1951, after completing the Łódź school for instructors of amateur theatres. In 1956, together with friends, he founded an artists' club in the cellars of the Pod Baranami Palace on the Main Market Square, which turned into the Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret. He was its founder and artistic director, director, scriptwriter and compère. He died in 1997 and was buried in the Avenue of the Distinguished at Rakowicki Cemetery.
The tenement house itself dates from the 15th century. It owes its name ("Under the Tin Roof") to the copper sheeting that covered its roof in the 16th century - an expensive decoration at the time that set the building apart from the neighbouring houses.
Did you know?
Skrzynecki was famous for holding his name-day and birthday parties at night, each time in a different place: at the Main Railway Station, in the Botanical Garden, on Piłsudski Mound and even on a boat on the Vistula. Today this tradition is recalled by the "Koncert dla Piotra S." concerts at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre.